It took whereabouts 5 days for Reaver's Requiem to find the path to the Hill of Memories.
In the end, they should have kept to the paved roads. There was one that went directly from the main settlement of the floor, Floria, to the location, interrupted only by the field-boss, which was also why they had put it on the backburner until the first half of the 47th floor had been cleared.
Despite how easy the frontliners made it look sometimes, field-bosses were no joke. Now, over two years after SAO started and discounting the anomaly that was Laughing Coffin, field-bosses were the second leading cause of deaths in Aincrad. Only behind the towers themselves.
That was because field-bosses respawned, and their loot was always good - usable for at least a handful of floors above them. So low and mid-level players flocked to them, and in their rush, sometimes ran right to their deaths.
Of course, that was just for the weak players. To frontliners, unless they deliberately gave up on their lives, it was rare for one of them to fall in anything less than a floor boss raid.
The Assault Team wasn't full of brash greenhorns anymore. Now, each of the frontliners was a battle-hardened veteran with at least thousands of life-or-death conflicts behind them. Recently, more than a few had even experienced what it was like to take another human's life.
It was the KoB who took down the field-boss of the 47th floor, and Drifter was happy to let them. Field-bosses were always a 'first come, first served' base.
But when it fell, the path to explore the second half of the floor was opened. And, with it, the way to the Hill of Memories.
Which was where the Reavers were right now.
"Woah!"
Standing at the foot of the map, the guild was struck by just how big it was. Really, you might as well call it a small mountain. But the floor had been designed in such a way that you only saw it when you were right in front of it.
And, as a special map, the Hill of Memories wasn't without its challenges. Reaver's Requiem was slowly making their way towards the top while appreciating the flower fields, but they could already spot something that was decidedly unnatural waiting for them up ahead.
The guardian of the flower that would bring back Feredir was big and ugly. A gigantic carnivorous plant, colored a deep red and sickly purple. Even now, out of combat state, its 'mouth' was open, the petals that formed it parting slightly to reveal sharp green barbs in the place of teeth, rising and falling slowly alongside the rest of the plant as it seemed to be deep asleep.
Truly, it was grotesque. And when they got closer and the Garish Gerbera started moving, Drifter had to hold back a grimace. The countless roots wiggling underneath the monster looked less like feet, and more like thousands of worms squirming around together.
"Naut."
"On it."
The Indomitable Knight dashed forward with Unrepentant Charge, smashing into the trunk of the mob. The creature, at least 10 times bigger and 50 times heavier than the player, stumbled back as if it had hit a wall.
The mpnster seemed surprised, which was more awareness than the players normally saw in plant-type mobs. But nevertheless, there was only one fate awaiting the Garish Gerbera.
It wasn't even an exciting fight. It probably would have been, if the ones the monster was facing were just a singular party of normal clearers. The amount of vines the Garish Gerbera had whipping around at any given time would ensure that.
But, unfortunately for the mob, it was up against Reaver's Requiem. Before it could even begin to show its incredible prowess, swords, axes, daggers, maces, and spears cut, sliced, and crushed it into nothing.
Drifter didn't know of it was on purpose or just a coincidence, but the 47th floor was surprisingly easy. It was scenic, and the enemies, while not particularly weak, weren't that strong either. It was a good floor for the frontliners to explore after the Laughing Coffin raid.
"Here we are."
Without giving a second glance to the defeated mobs, the guild walked the last few meters to the top of the Hill of Memories.
There, on a softly glowing pedestal, was a nearly pure white flower, down to the stem. The only other color the flower carried was the vibrant golden core.
"Pneuma Flower."
Silica breathed out the two words in a reverential manner. This was, after all, the key to reviving one of her dearest friends.
Almost instinctively, her hand reached to pluck the flower, but halted. A fearful expression flashed on her face as unbidden thoughts crossed her mind.
What if Feredir didn't want to come back? What if he didn't remember her? What if-
"Go on, Silica. He's waiting for you."
A strong, yet gentle hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked back to see Drifter smiling kindly at her, as if he could see her dark thoughts plainly on her face.
He probably could.
"Hm!"
Beyond Drifter, all the other Reavers were smiling at her. Kizmel in particular stepped forward to rest her hand on Silica's other shoulder.
"Go on."
Kizmel had even more right to miss Feredir than her. The wolf had been her brother's partner, and that loyalty had transferred to her when Locke died.
But the bond Feredir and Silica had created was undeniable. Over the last 18 months, Feredir barely left the girl's side. He even slept with her.
It was no surprise Silica was nervous. If this somehow didn't work, she would be heartbroken.
But she drummed up her frontliner courage, and plucked the Pneuma Flower.
It detached from the pedestal without a sound, breaking off at the base of the stem. Silica then took a deep breath and pulled out Feredir's Fang hanging on around her neck.
The moment the two items got close, they started glowing green. A prompt must have appeared for the Dragon Tamer, because she tapped the empty air in front of her.
"Uh?"
Suddenly the glow around the items expanded to form a sphere about the size of a soccer ball, obscuring them from view.
BA-DUMP!
BA-DUMP!
BA-DUMP!
The sound of heartbeats started coming from the ball as it pulsated, getting faster and louder each turn.
Silica stepped back as the ball grew once again, until it was bigger and taller than her. The noise was almost deafening now.
The silence that followed when it suddenly stopped was almost as loud. They could still hear the beating echoing in their ears as the sphere vanished with a noise similar to a balloon popping.
Left in its place was a large grey-furred wolf, sitting on its haunches.
"Feredir!"
That was all the incentive the wolf needed to launch himself onto Silica, bowling the tiny girl over.
Yet, the famous Dragon Tamer didn't care for it at all as she buried her face in Feredir's fur, laughing and crying while the wolf frantically licked her hair.
Feredir couldn't speak, but his actions sang louder than any number of words. The Reavers had no idea how aware of what had transpired - his death, his revival, and the time in between - the wolf was, but it was clear to everyone that he was still the same old Feredir.
"Old friend..."
As Kizmel kneeled next to Feredir and started treading her fingers through his fur, causing the wolf to turn his head to her, the rest of the Reavers also surged forward to greet their old companion.
------------------------
The news of Feredir's revival didn't cause many waves. The frontliners had already known about Silica's Unique Skill - which meant one of them had sold the Intel to Argo before the girl could her their info-broker friend. And, to the rest of the other players, Feredir was simply a mere pet.
To the pet owners in Aincrad, it was knowing about the existence of the Hill of Memories and Pneuma Flower that interested them more. But they were few and far in-between, since most people didn't see the value in pets, as the vast majority had no use in combat.
What most people - in and out of Sword Art Online - were focusing on was the future. Or, more specifically, the approaching 50th floor.
The players, frontliners, clearers or otherwise, still remembered the horrors of the 25th floor. The world remembered watching it.
The boss raids of the 47th and 48th floor barely garnered any attention. That's not to say nobody watched it, but, with the impending sure-death floor on the horizon, most eyes were turned towards the preparations the Assault Team was making for it.
And they were. Preparing, that is. The 25th floor had been one big series of mistakes culminating on the 25th Massacre. Broken Spear Drifter and the others would never allow it again.
Chief amongst all measures they had taken was the complete exploration of the quests in all floors above the 40th.
While the frontliners didn't have the time to go on the countless side quests, being occupied leveling up and upgrading their skills and gear as much as possible, they had tasked the clearers in their guilds, as well as others, with completing any and all quests, no matter how innocuous, and funneling all the intel through Argo.
It was no easy feat. Quests in Sword Art Online varied in complexity, from the basic fetch quests to chain quests spanning multiple floors. But the one thing they all had in common was that there was always more to them than you could see at a first glance.
It could be some random curiosity a NPC spouted during an escort mission. Or the description of some inconspicuous item you received as a reward. Or a certain lore behind a location or a NPC.
It was never the full story at once. And it was Argo's job to separate the useful from the useless, the true from the false, and glue together a picture of what the 50th floor had laying in wait for the players.
"Arghh... I'm losin' my mind over here, Dri-bou! My HUD sounds like it's havin' a stroke! I didn't even get that many messages when I was coordinatin' the LC hunt."
"Thanks for your hard work, little rat."
"Fuck ya too. Also, I need ya to go meet Akari for me. Somethin' unrelated to the 50th floor, but I don't got the time right now."
In a secluded park in a corner of the 37th floor's main settlement, Broken Spear Drifter and Argo the Rat rested on a bench.
Well, the Reaver was resting anyway. Argo was furiously typing away at the empty air in front of her.
"Sure. I haven't seen her since the after-raid interrogations of those red bastatrds. This will be a good chance to catch up. You, meanwhile, need to take a break before you go insane. Don't you have anyone who can help you? At least with sorting what's useful and what's a waste of time?"
The info-broker bit her lips, her eyes flickering to him for a moment.
"Not with this. I weeded out any moles, but this is too big. Ya know as well as I do that incompetence kills just as easily as malice. Can't risk it. Not with this, not now."
Drifter bit his lips, but said nothing. The Laughing Coffin spies amongst her informants had shaken Argo's faith in her judgement.
"Alright. But you can always ask for help, little rat. You know none of us would look down on you for it. Anyone in the guild would be more than happy to take some time off from grinding to work as your secretary for a while."
The assurances brought a smile to Argo's mouth, but she waved Drifter off.
"I'll think 'bout it. Now shoo, Dri-bou. Akari's waiting for you on the 41st."
Drifter shook his head with a grin, and ruffled Argo's hair before getting up and stretching.
"Don't be a stranger, little rat."
"See ya."
Argo waved her hand briefly before going back to glaring at her menu. Drifter doubted she was going to take him up on his offer.
Still, it was good she had at least delegated one task to him. And he did miss seeing Akari.
Though, the moment he stepped past of the teleporter in the 41st floor and saw her grim eyes beneath her mask, he knew this was going to be a lot more complicated than a simple request.
"How's it going, Akari?"
"Not here."
The ninja didn't give him any time to say more, turning around immediately and stalking away, leaving him only with the option to follow her, not that he minded.
Watching Akari traverse the city, shifting from shadow to shadow in what was almost definitely an unconscious habit, was a marvel in itself.
Drifter was certain she wasn't using Hiding or any other skills, and she was just a few steps in front of him, and yet he almost lost sight of her no less than 3 times in the short walk to the gates.
Akari only stopped once they were far away from the city, in a wide expanse where no one could eavesdrop on them without being discovered.
"This serious?"
Drifter raised an eyebrow. He couldn't see them, not without activating his Searching skill, but the slight prickling in his nape told him there were at least a couple Fuumaningum players nearby, keeping watch.
Akari's eyes were dim beneath her mask. She nodded, then shook her head, then nodded again.
"Maybe. Or it might be nothing. But it's related to frontliners. I thought you should know."
Drifter's gaze sharpened. Argo and Akari were like two sides of the same coin when it came to the information and espionage business.
But while one dealt mostly in the light, the latter rarely left the shadows. If Akari was involved, it was because players were involved.
"We don't have another Laughing Coffin situation in our hands, do we?"