After about half an hour of discussion, the raid group finally decided on the participants for the First Assault Team.
"Alright, it's settled. We depart officially in one hour!"
Just as the dozen or so guild leaders reached an agreement and were about to leave the meeting room to prepare, several of them suddenly received messages.
{Guild Leader! The teleport gate can access Floor Three now! Floor Two has already been cleared!}
"What?!"
Thud—thud—thud!
The guild leaders leapt to their feet in shock, staring at one another in disbelief. That shock was quickly replaced by fury, their faces turning livid.
"Which guild cleared the boss?!"
"It definitely wasn't any of the guilds here…"
"Damn it! Didn't we agree that everyone who wanted to participate would discuss it with the raid group first?!"
"Find out which guild did it!"
The leaders were practically losing their minds—especially those who had secured many slots in the First Assault Team. They had hoped to obtain exclusive drops, only to have their dreams shattered by a single message.
It was infuriating. All their serious discussions now felt like a joke—they'd fought over slots for nothing, only to discover the boss had already been defeated. Anyone would be furious.
Several guild leaders immediately decided to bring their people to the labyrinth. If they hurried, they might still find out who did it.
Outside, Kirito and Asuna were equally surprised. They had no idea which guild could have done it. After all, any guild with enough size or influence had already gathered here. What remained were small teams—nowhere near enough to form a full forty-eight–player raid.
Unlike the curious pair, Argo wore a strange expression. She glanced at her friends list and sent a message. This time, instead of "unable to send," the system displayed message sent successfully.
"…You?"
A single character followed by a question mark was enough to convey her confusion. She trusted that Lillian would understand immediately.
A moment later, a reply arrived.
{Me.}
A smile surfaced on Argo's cheeks. She waved goodbye to Kirito and Asuna.
"I'll be heading out first~"
"Huh…? Aren't we going to eat?"
"Nope. This big sister's going to take a look at the newly opened third floor~"
"..."
The two watched Argo leave briskly, completely baffled as to why she suddenly seemed so cheerful.
---
Sitting amid the wreckage and resting, Lillian opened his inventory.
Since he was the only one who had cleared the boss, no matter which loot distribution method was used, the exclusive item was guaranteed to be his. Inside his bag was an additional piece of equipment—a reddish-brown leather armor that closely resembled the Taurus King's hide.
After checking its stats, Lillian was pleasantly surprised. Although the defense of this fine-quality leather armor wasn't especially high, its poison resistance was exceptionally strong. For him, this was a very desirable attribute. High poison resistance meant reduced duration and effectiveness of debuffs—extremely valuable for a solo player like Lillian.
He equipped it immediately. His appearance changed slightly, though he didn't care much about looks. As long as the stats were good, that was enough.
Speaking of armor, he also had a [Refined Steel Armor Forging Blueprint] in his inventory—a gift from Terusuke. He hadn't crafted it yet because the required materials didn't exist on Floors One or Two; they only had a small chance of dropping starting from Floor Three. Now that the third floor was open, he could finally gather the materials and forge it.
Steel armor traded agility for high defense, but for Lillian, the loss was practically nonexistent—he could still move swiftly even while wearing it. Having a spare set might come in handy someday.
The same logic applied to weapons. Ever since his weapon had been knocked out of his hands once, he'd wanted a backup. While martial arts were useful, their damage couldn't compare to an enhanced weapon. It was always better to have a weapon ready.
"I'll check if the third floor's weapon shop sells greatswords."
After getting used to a greatsword, switching back to a small one-handed sword felt extremely awkward. Unfortunately, his current forging level wasn't high enough to craft large weapons, so buying one was his only option. Monster drops were so rare they weren't even worth hoping for.
Standing up, he brushed off the nonexistent dust on his clothes and walked toward the staircase at the far end of the room.
---
Just like the transition from Floor One to Two, the path from Floor Two to Three was also a stairway climb. The only difference lay in the reliefs carved into the black stone walls—each floor had unique designs. If one looked closely, the carvings hinted at the scenery and theme of the next floor.
As Lillian walked, he noticed carvings of humans holding swords.
Yes—humans.
But not players.
If SAO truly had something like a "starter village," then Floors One and Two were exactly that. In a sense, Floor Three marked the real beginning of SAO.
The reason was simple: all monsters on the first two floors were either beasts or demihumans—boars, wolves, orcs, minotaurs. These were classic RPG enemies with little novelty.
Starting from Floor Three, however, humanoid mobs would appear—enemies indistinguishable from humans in appearance, identifiable only by the color of the cursor above their heads. These enemies could be spoken to just like NPCs, and players could choose whether or not to fight them. However, their sword skills were extremely powerful; charging in recklessly could easily get a player instantly killed.
Combat wasn't the only option, either. These humanoid mobs had needs and quests. Players could assist them and receive substantial rewards. From this floor onward, player freedom expanded dramatically, and the game truly began to resemble an open-world experience.
On Floors One and Two, gameplay mostly consisted of grinding monsters and doing trivial quests—no different from traditional online games decades ago. The only reason players stayed was the immersive realism of full-dive technology. In terms of pure gameplay innovation, there wasn't much—until Floor Three.
Only from this point on could it truly be called SAO.
Lost in thought, Lillian reached the end of the staircase and pushed open the massive stone door. Instantly, towering green filled his vision.
As far as the eye could see, enormous trees—tens, even hundreds of meters tall—rose skyward and stretched endlessly into the distance. Golden light poured down through layers of overlapping branches, creating a scene that felt almost dreamlike.
Aincrad, Floor Three.
The theme of this floor was "Forest." Compared to the first two floors, it was overwhelmingly green, and the air felt fresher and sweeter.
"Feels a bit like a forest of the giant trees," Lillian muttered, gazing at the endless trees. "If there were Titans here, I could even catch up with some old acquaintances."
He sighed, shook his head, and walked down the steps. Below lay an ancient forest road. Looking toward its end, he could only see a dim path winding through the woods—no sign of a safe zone.
"As long as the designers weren't out of their minds, following this road should lead to a town."
He moved forward, intending to unlock the teleport gate in the town first. There was no real rush; even if he didn't activate it, the gate would open automatically in an hour anyway. From that perspective, he could simply wait and teleport over from Floors One or Two without risking monster attacks in the forest.
But that would be… boring.
Yeah—forget it.
As he walked, his thoughts drifted.
He had solo-cleared the boss and taken the Last Attack. The raid groups were probably furious by now. They might not know it was him, though—Argo was likely the only one who could guess, since he'd mentioned it to her before. She probably wouldn't tell anyone.
In that case, they'd likely assume some secret guild did it. That was fine. If they found out it was him, it would probably spark another public uproar and condemnation.
Lillian knew he was already labeled as a "PK." Other players even referred to him as "that PK with the conical hat and greatsword."
That wasn't a flattering title. "PK" stood for Player Kill or Player Killer—essentially, a murderer. Since everyone in the game was a "player," the term was used to describe players who had killed other players.
At the moment, PKs were still rare. Someone like Lillian, who had killed several players in one go, was a PK among PKs—already a symbolic figure.
Many players wanted to capture him. Unfortunately for them, he was still a green-name player. The moment someone attacked him, they'd turn orange and risk being killed by him without penalty. No one wanted to gamble on that, so they were all waiting for the moment he turned orange himself.
Lillian was well aware of this, which was precisely why he had no intention of becoming orange and inviting trouble.
Creak… creak…
A sound rang out. Lillian stopped and turned his gaze toward a withered tree on his right. Its pale-yellow trunk was about fifteen centimeters thick and two meters tall—tiny compared to the surrounding giants.
Yet in a hollow near the upper trunk, phosphorescent light flickered like a pair of eyes. Long branches extending from its sides swayed like the claws of a beast.
"A tree spirit, huh? Pretty fitting."
The moment he locked onto it, the creature's right root tore free from the ground and began to move. The left followed, ripping itself loose. After wobbling forward a few steps, the entire tree suddenly charged at Lillian. Another hollow opened beneath the glowing one, shaped like a mouth, emitting a loud:
"MOROOOOOO!"
Lillian drew his greatsword and swung straight at it.