LA—Last Attack.
When Lillian accepted the job, it had already been agreed: he would only take the ten thousand col labor fee and would not claim the BOSS's exclusive drop. Since the drop automatically went into the inventory of whoever landed the LA, he couldn't be bothered to deal with trading afterward, so he simply handed it to Terusuke.
"Got it!"
Terusuke shouted, tossing his shield aside. Gripping his one-handed sword with both hands, he activated a thrust-type sword skill and instantly closed the distance, striking the Beast King just as it was struggling to rise.
"Grrr… lu…"
Hit by the final blow, the Beast King's body seemed to lose all strength in an instant. It staggered, then collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Crack… crack.
Cracks like shattered glass spread across its body. With a loud bang, it shattered into countless fragments of light that scattered throughout the chamber. In the next instant, a system message appeared before Terusuke's eyes.
[You got the last attack!]
---
Out on the plains, a player who was walking suddenly came to a halt.
"Someone cleared the first-floor BOSS?"
He opened his system menu. If any other player had seen it at that moment, they would have cried out in disbelief—
This man was named Kayaba Akihiko—or, in the game, Heathcliff. If questioned, he would simply reply:
"Who could clear it this fast…" he muttered while operating the system. "By my estimates, it should have taken at least twenty to thirty days to clear the first floor."
He selected Labyrinth, then chose Floor One. Next to it were one word:
Cleared.
He chose Combat Replay. Instantly, a semi-transparent screen appeared before his eyes, replaying the battle between Lillian, Terusuke, and their group against the Beast King.
Kayaba stared without blinking. His gaze immediately locked onto Lillian.
"His level… already level ten? Wait—this speed and strength exceed his base stats. What's going on?"
His expression grew grave. He immediately stopped the replay and pulled up the database system, typing Lillian's in-game name into the search field.
[This player does not exist]
The moment the result appeared, Kayaba was stunned. He couldn't stop himself from exclaiming aloud:
"How is that possible?!"
"Continue searching! Facial recognition! Cross-check against all registered player data!"
He ran one query after another at lightning speed. But nothing came up. No matter whether he searched by name or appearance, there was no match in the database.
Which meant—
This player had appeared in the game out of thin air.
"How can this be… impossible…"
Kayaba propped his chin on one hand, frowning deeply as he tried to reason it out.
This was his game. He was the god of this world. Without question, everything in it should have been under his control. And yet—what was this player? To enter the game, one had to wear the device, and wearing the device meant that physical data and facial features were recorded and uploaded to the database.
But here, there was nothing.
Nothing at all.
"Could it be that the government cracked my encryption and sent an agent inside?"
The thought crossed his mind involuntarily. He couldn't think of any other possibility. If that were the case…
He opened the game's editing system and entered character editing, attempting to select Lillian. But no matter what he did, the system only returned the message:
[Player not detected]
That meant he couldn't adjust Lillian's level, items, or stats.
He couldn't interfere with him at all.
"In that case… if I were to spawn a high-level monster near him right now—or simply set the area he's in to [Desperate Situation]—he would die there."
Kayaba considered it, then shook his head.
"No. First, I need to find out how he bypassed my encryption system to enter the game. And I need to confirm whether there's only one of him—or whether many such 'agents' have already infiltrated."
To be honest, watching Lillian on the screen made Kayaba's mood plummet instantly—from sunny to overcast.
He had created this world to control it and observe it. He hated situations he couldn't control—especially ones he couldn't even understand.
"So… my game has been infiltrated by a 'ghost,' huh…"
Staring at Lillian, Kayaba murmured quietly,
"Very well. Let's see what you truly intend to do."
---
Why does it suddenly feel kind of chilly?
Lillian glanced around, vaguely sensing that someone was watching him. His intuition was usually sharp in matters like this, yet no matter where he looked, he couldn't find any eyes on him. It was… strange.
"Haha!"
Terusuke's laughter snapped him out of it. Lillian looked over and saw that Terusuke's footwear had changed—his original leather shoes had turned into a pair of long boots.
"The exclusive drop was a pair of good-quality boots. Not bad at all!" Terusuke said, then looked at Lillian with sincere gratitude. "Seriously, thanks to you. Otherwise, we probably would've lost quite a few people."
"It's what I should've done."
Good-quality boots—pretty decent. Lillian remembered that in the original storyline, Kirito got a black coat when he landed the LA, the one that made him look so cool and aloof, and that was where the nickname Black Swordsman came from. Now that Terusuke had taken the LA, Kirito naturally lost that chance to show off. But… gold will always shine. Missing that coat once wouldn't stop Kirito from becoming a top-tier player. That was impossible.
"Hey, hey, Lillian, how are you so strong?!" someone finally couldn't help asking. "You actually lifted the BOSS and did a shoulder throw! That's insane!"
"Yeah! I just blocked one of its attacks with a shield and my arms went numb."
"Don't tell me Lillian is some kind of pro wrestler in real life? No, that can't be right—you're way too slim for that!"
"Stop guessing," Lillian said calmly. "I was just born strong. No special reason."
"…I see."
His explanation clearly wasn't very convincing, but no one could come up with a better one, so they had no choice but to accept it.
From this battle, Lillian also received his share of the experience and successfully reached level 11. He also earned 3,500 col—quite a decent amount.
He looked ahead. Behind the fallen Beast King's throne, a gate of light had appeared.
"I'm going to unlock the teleport to the second floor," Lillian said. "You guys should head back and rest first."
"Oh right! Now that the BOSS is down, the second floor can be opened!"
"We're going too!"
"You'd better not," Terusuke said. "Don't forget, there are high-level second-floor monsters on the path from the first floor. Everyone's in rough shape and exhausted right now. No need to take that risk."
Then he looked at Lillian and added, "Why don't you rest in town too? There's no rush to open it. Even if no one goes, the gate will open automatically in two hours anyway. The BOSS won't respawn."
"No. I'm not tired," Lillian shook his head and walked toward the light gate. "After I open it, I'll go straight back to the Starting Town. We can contact each other then."
"Oh—okay!" Terusuke waved at him. "I'll make sure to thank you properly later!"
Lillian waved back without saying more and stepped into the gate. Terusuke watched his figure disappear, fell silent for a moment, then turned around.
"Alright, let's head back too."
---
Beyond the gate was a spiraling staircase leading upward. Lillian climbed it, reaching another door at the top.
When he pushed it open, a magnificent vista burst into view.
The exit of the first floor was set halfway up a cliff. Mountain ranges stretched from one end to the horizon, and in the distance he could see lush green hills and large bison-type monsters wandering across the grasslands below. Beyond those mountains lay the safe zone of the second floor.
To get there, one had to descend the steep stairs from the platform where Lillian was standing, then cross the bison monsters' territory before reaching the safe zone. After activating the teleport gate there, players would be able to teleport directly between that location and the Starting Town—and back again.
Lillian descended the staircase, which had exactly thirty-six steps, symbolizing the thirty-six players who had participated in the BOSS raid—a small detail meant to honor their bravery. Reaching the bottom and gazing toward the distant town, he let out a quiet breath.
"Finally… made some progress."