Chapter 151: Strategy Acceleration

After returning to Lingyun's garden, Yui also recovered the missing part of her memory and learned her original identity: an AI designed for consulting on player mental health.

Upon learning of Yui's identity, both Asuna and Kirito were very surprised; they had never imagined that Yui would have such an identity.

"But, in that case, won't Yui disappear once this world is cleared?" Asuna said sadly. Although she knew Yui was just an AI, ever since Yui called her 'Mom', she had truly accepted her as her daughter.

"Mom, don't worry. Even if this world ends, Yui won't disappear!" Yui comforted her.

"What? You won't disappear? But why?" Asuna asked, feeling a bit strange.

"Because Dad has given Yui a new life!" Yui said with a smile.

"Given Yui a new life?" Hearing Yui's words, both Asuna and Kirito were a bit confused; only Luo Yexi and the others, who knew some of the inside story, vaguely guessed the reason.

"Don't worry, Mom. When this world ends, you will know!" Yui said with a smile.

Since Yui had said so, Asuna suppressed her urge to ask further; she knew that Yui would absolutely never lie to her.

In the following days, Lingyun also learned some information about the uncleared floors through Yui. Currently, the battle in the Ruby Palace on the top floor had reached a stalemate. Although the power left behind by the Underworld King of the End was fighting back desperately, it remained sealed in the face of suppression by multiple forces. However, relying solely on such a seal to destroy it was clearly unrealistic; they could only wait until the players reached the hundredth floor to eliminate it.

After learning this information, Lingyun and his group began to clear the floor Bosses with full force. Because they had Yui, who could roughly sense the location of the Underworld King of the End's power, as a guide, the Boss Rooms that were originally very difficult to find lost their original advantage in front of Lingyun and the others. Facing the powerful crushing force of Lingyun's group, one Boss after another fell under their attacks in the horrified gazes of many players.

Time flew by, and half a year passed. In this half-year, players had already stepped into the 99th floor. During this time, quite a few players from the Clearers had sacrificed themselves, and even Asuna and Kirito had times when they fell into dire straits. However, people still saw the dawn of hope; after all, they had already cleared up to the 99th floor, and the hope of returning to the real world had already appeared before them.

The 99th-floor Boss Room.

Lingyun slowly pulled his Long sword out of the Boss in front of him. The Boss let out a shrill roar and slowly turned into fragments and disappeared. At the same time, a display box congratulating them on clearing the level appeared in the room.

Behind Lingyun, Luo Yexi and the others let out a long sigh, and the colorful light flames on their bodies slowly faded. This Boss was simply too powerful; not only did it have all kinds of incredible skills, but the most broken thing was its heaven-defying health recovery ability. Even more terrifying was that it possessed a skill that could restore its status to full every time it killed a player. If the Clearers had come to attack this Boss, they would likely have faced a total wipeout. Even Lingyun and his group had to use Limit Break throughout the entire fight to eliminate it.

"That was just amazing! Now we only have the final Boss left to solve, and we can go home soon!" In Lingyun's garden, Argo said to Lingyun with an excited face.

"You're taking this matter too simply. The Boss on the final floor isn't that easy to eliminate!" Lingyun knocked on her head.

"Yeah, I'm afraid only a few of us can participate in this final battle! If others go, they'll just be cannon fodder!" Kirito's expression was very serious.

"Is, is it that exaggerated?" Argo was startled by Kirito's words.

"This isn't an exaggeration, this is reality!" Asuna also spoke up. "I think we need to go talk to Heathcliff to prevent them from making unnecessary sacrifices!"

"Agreed!" Suguha, who was on the side, also nodded slightly.

In the most luxurious tavern on the 99th floor, the most powerful batch of players from the Clearers had gathered, and the person leading them was none other than Heathcliff. To be honest, the fact that Heathcliff's identity had not been exposed yet was thanks to Lingyun and the others. Although Kirito had been suspicious of Heathcliff's immense strength at the beginning, after seeing the non-human level of strength displayed by Lingyun and his group, that thought was thrown to the back of her mind.

"Commander, who are we waiting for here?" A member of the Blood Oath Knights asked Heathcliff.

"When he arrives, you will know!" Heathcliff said.

"Him?" The member frowned slightly, and just as he was about to say something more, he heard the sound of the tavern door opening. When he looked at the newcomer with some displeasure, he couldn't help but be stunned.

"We meet again, Commander Heathcliff!" Lingyun sat down opposite Heathcliff and said slowly.

"Indeed, Lingyun! However, I think this should be the last strategy meeting!" Heathcliff poured himself a glass of wine.

"It can indeed be considered the last strategy meeting!" He chuckled. "It's been over two years; this world is finally coming to an end!"

"Then, I wonder why you gathered all the people from our Clearers together?" Heathcliff asked.

"Why?" Lingyun glanced at Heathcliff and then said, "My purpose for coming this time is only one: for this final Boss raid, you are not to interfere!"

"What do you mean by that?" A player from the Blood Oath Knights beside Heathcliff said with an unhappy face.

"What do I mean? I just simply don't want to increase the number of sacrifices!" Lingyun spread his hands. "You cannot imagine at all what kind of existence this final floor's Boss is!"

"The final floor's Boss?" Heathcliff frowned slightly. "What exactly is this final floor's Boss?"

"You would never want to know. I've delivered the message, I'm leaving now!" Lingyun drank the wine in front of him in one gulp, then put down the glass and left the tavern.

"Commander, this..." The member of the Blood Oath Knights said with indignation. "This guy is too arrogant!"

"I don't think so. Perhaps he really is kind enough to come and warn us that this Boss battle is absolutely different from the past!" Heathcliff squinted his eyes and looked in the direction Lingyun had left. "However, does he think we will give up on the Boss raid so easily just because of his words? Go back and prepare; we will set off for the Ruby Palace tomorrow!"

"Dad, doing this won't have any effect other than infuriating them!" After Lingyun left the tavern, Yui appeared by Lingyun's side.

"I want to infuriate them. That way, they will inevitably go all out in their preparations today and set off tomorrow, but by that time, we will already be clearing the Boss. No need to worry about them running into any problems." Lingyun said with a smile. "Let's go back first and prepare for tomorrow's battle!"

"Okay, Dad!" Yui activated her permissions and disappeared into the street with Lingyun.