The Eyeball Slimes - Drifter refused to use the name the system gave them, Things, because it sounded too much like a 3rd-rate horror flick - weren't the only enemies Reaver's Requiem came across in their exploration.
Somewhere along the way, as they advanced deeper into the floor, Black Corrosives started to show up. The name didn't really make them justice.
The Black Corrosives looked like melted scarecrows. Each of them wielded a scythe, and swung it with surprising skill.
The real problem the mobs presented was their acid. Every now and then, one of them would plunge a hand inside their bodies - yes, full-on pierce their own stomachs - grab a handful of a sludge-like substance, and throw it. If hit by it, the players had to endure a harsh DoT effect, as well as suffer great losses of equipment durability.
In a way, it was good that it was Reaver's Requiem who chose this direction. They had with them Forge Master Lisbeth and her Volcano Forge Unique Skill, so while annoying, the Black Corrosives couldn't force them to retreat to safe zones to repair their equipment like they would do to other guilds.
It was the third mob type that they came across that gave the Reavers pause. Drifter saw it when he activated his Searching by habit, and his entire vision light up red.
"Stop!"
The players halted immediately, tightening their formation when they heard the urgency in Drifter's voice. The spearmaster pointed to a large boulder about 15 meters ahead of them.
"Behind that. Something big."
The Reavers fanned out following his words, like hunters cornering a prey. Only, this time they had chosen their quarry wrongly.
They were about 5 meters from the moss-covered boulder when it moved. Drifter realized the mob hadn't been hiding behind it - it was the rock. That realization came at about the same time something hit his chest like a runaway truck.
The spearmaster's feet left the ground and he flew a good 7 meters, bowling over Kizmel and Sachi.
"Drifter!"
The three landed in a pile on the ground, completely disoriented, even if the spearwoman and the dark elf were unharmed.
Drifter certainly wasn't. There was a large red line going from his left shoulder to just beneath his ribs on his right side, as thick as his forearm. His HP had dropped to yellow in one single blow.
"I'm okay! Focus!"
The spearmaster yelled as he struggled to get up. He hadn't even seen what hit him.
"Argh!"
Splitting their attention to worry about Drifter proved to be a fatal mistake. Kirito had just started to turn around when he too got hit.
This time Drifter saw it. From a gap under the boulder - which he now recognized wasn't a boulder at all, but a shell - a whip-like, dark-green tentacle slashed out, catching the Black Swordsman across the face.
Kirito felt like he had just gotten shot. His head snapped back, followed by the rest of his body, and then his feet as he performed an unplanned backflip.
The swordsman landed in a heap on the ground, groaning. The other Reavers watched with wide-eyes as two of their best were disabled so promptly.
"What the fuck?!"
"Eyes on the monster! Kill that fucker!"
Still, caught by surprise or not, they were frontliners. Drifter getting hit could be considered unavoidable, since they didn't know what they were dealing with. Kirito was a mistake.
If they let it happen a third time, they might as well jump over the edge of Aincrad. It would certainly be less embarrassing.
When the mob lashed out again, still with the tentacle from under its shell, Nautilus twisted to the side, and caught the thing between his shield and the pommel of his blade.
"Cut it!"
Straining to hold the slimy extension, he shouted for help. Griselda was upon him in an instant, cleaving down with an Avalanche.
It only got about halfway through the arm-thick tentacle. The thing was tough.
"What the-"
Before the woman could go for a second blow, the tentacle managed to wriggle free of Nautilus' hold. However, instead of retreating back under the shell, it turned towards Griselda like it had a mind of its own.
It was only then that the players noticed that the tip of the tentacle was rouder and bigger than the rest of it. The reason for that was apparent when it opened up like five petals of a gross flower, and spewed black muck all over Griselda.
"Ack! What is this? Get it off! Die!"
It was disgusting. Griselda was torn between dropping her sword and trying to clean herself, and just unleashing her rage on the mob.
She went with the second option. Slashing wildly, she landed a normal attack and a Power Cut before the tentacle pulled away.
"Griselda! Are you okay?"
"No! Yes! Argh! I'm not hurt. But-"
Whatever else Griselda was going to say got caught on her throat when she saw the mob growing. She looked up as Agil and Yuuki retreated after a few ineffective attacks against the shell.
Then she looked up again, because if they thought the mob was big before? Now it towered over them by a good 5 meters. If it wasn't for the fact that it only had one health bar, she would think it was a field-boss.
Drifter had also managed to get up in the interval, and was gaping at the mob. It was huge. The moss-covered shell was one thing. But even that was currently 2 meters off the ground, held on the back of a dark-green...
"Snail. It's a damn snail?"
Keita cursed. The mob was, in fact a snail. And the whip-like thing that lashed out before weren't tentacles, but its antenna. The ball that opened up to spit muck at Griselda was an eye.
"Doesn't matter what it is, 'cause it hits like a fucking train. Get ready, everyone. It won't go down easy."
As if responding to Drifter's words, the snail turned towards them, and they finally saw it's head. Other than the antennas on top, all it had was a tiny circular mouth, complete with row after row of sharp teeth.
Drifter threw his spear at it.
The weapon soared towards the mob, but it ducked with surprising agility for... Well, a snail. The spear passed between the antennas and hit its shell with a defeaning, gong-like sound.
Drifter winced at the thought of how much durability his weapon had just lost. Even worse was when he looked at the monster's HP and saw that it hadn't diminished at all. In fact, it seemed only Griselda's attack had been effective.
"The shell makes it invulnerable. Aim for the flesh!"
Not the nicest way to put it, but it passed the message well enough. Unfortunately, the surprises weren't over yet.
"Wh-"
Just as Griselda started to run towards the mob, she found her movement impaired. The sludge the creature had covered her in had hardened, throwing off her sense of balance entirely, and she fell.
"Griselda! You okay?"
"No! I got a 70% speed debuff!"
Drifter almost stumbled himself. An attack that could take almost half of his HP in one go, and another that applied a debuff on par with round floor bosses?
"Are we sure that thing isn't a field-boss?!"
"Less talking and more killing! I don't wanna find out what other tricks it has!"
A Healing Crystal and some bubbles from Pina had seen to it that Drifter's HP recovered to an acceptable range. The spearmaster was quick to charge towards the mob.
He heard Yuna start playing her Clear Breeze song, hopefully it would cancel out some of the negative effects Griselda was under. For him and the other Reavers, the speed buff was welcomed anyway.
Even then, he was still hard-pressed to dodge the swiping antenna that targeted him. It extended far beyond what was normal or logical, like a stretched piece of gum or a rubber band.
Analogies aside, the member was right in front of him before Drifter could blink. It was pure instinct that saw the spearmaster ducking, then curling up when he lost his footing.
Transitioning into a roll, Drifter shot back to his feet in time to see Wolv grunting as he awkwardly blocked the antenna with his mace. Luckily Yuuki was there to help, chopping down on it with a Slant.
Again, it wasn't enough to cut off the... Limb? Anyway, Drifter only gave them a cursory glance, not even slowing down as he used a Comet Break to finally reach the main body of the mob.
"Hah!"
He felt grim satisfaction as his spear plunged deep into the snail's flesh. The creature's HP dropped by nearly 10% just from that, proving that, while it's shell was impenetrable, the monster itself wasn't that sturdy.
To his right, he saw Asuna unleashing hell on the mob with Triangular, Folium, Sharp Hail, and a number of other skills. To his left, Silica and Ran were tearing into the monster with Tiger Bone, Stop Cut, Savage Fulcrum, and so on. Drifter himself happily added Tripple Thrust and Cobalt Slice to the mix.
Under the onslaught of skills, the mob fell while buried by a myriad of colors and glows. The players stood around the spot it previously was, panting.
Still, the beast didn't go down easily. Even while under attack, it never stopped whipping its antennas and spewing that black sludge. Other than Griselda, Shigio and Liz were also covered in the muck, and Sachi, Agil, and Nautilus were sporting rather nasty red lines across their bodies.
"What in Kayaba's cursed name was that?!"
It was Vallerk who asked that, while trying fruitlessly to scrape the now-hardened sludge covering his girlfriend. Liz was fuming.
"No fucking idea. But I don't like it. That was on par with an elite labyrinth mob. And an ambush-type too."
Agil spat while holding his arm out so Pina could perch on it and heal him. The Merchant Warrior was frowning.
"Yeah. That... That was not okay. We were already somewhat ready because Drifter noticed it early, even if it still caught us by surprise. A distracted clearer party? That's deadly."
"Three hits would be enough to kill a player. It could do that in the initial confusion after the first attack."
Kirito shook his head with narrowed eyes. Reaver's Requiem had managed to take the mob down so quickly partly because they were who they were, and also because they were all there. If they had split into parties of 6 as they normally did...
None of them would have died. They were Reaver's Requiem. So they wouldn't have died. But it would have been a painful battle. A panicked one, which was the worst kind of battle.
In a way, it was good this was a round floor, because they had taken precautions. One of them was not splitting up until they had a good grasp of the floor.
On the other hand, the only reason there was a mob like that was because it was a roundfloor.
"Ambush-type mob, lightning-fast attacks, unbreakable shell, boss-level speed debuff... The only weakness is how squishy it is. Sounds about right?"
"Sounds fucking absurd."
Yuna slapped Sinon on the shoulder for her improper language, but even the songstress couldn't help but think it was pretty accurate.
"Debuff lasts 35 seconds."
Griselda had been timing it, and her expression of distate showed her opinion on it pretty well. 35 seconds was a lifetime with a 70% speed reduction.
"Round floor. We aren't playing anymore. Keep an eye out for more... Sludge Crawlers."
Drifter had to pause to check the battle log for the name of the mob. Everything had happened so fast he hadn't been able to see it during the battle.
"We stopped playing a long time ago."
Someone muttered under their breath, but Drifter ignored them. His mind was in the future.
That were 3 different types of mob Reaver's Requiem had encountered already, and they weren't even a day into the floor yet. Things, Black Corrosives, and now Sludge Crawlers. They all hinted at something.
A round floor indeed.