Miracle Summoner

"Sleeping Knights"—this was a name that Rozen had never heard of before.

However, even without prior knowledge, Rozen could guess what it referred to.

"Is that the name of the guild that 'Zekken' belongs to?"

Rozen asked this question, seeking confirmation.

"That's correct," Asuna nodded, verifying Rozen's speculation.

According to Asuna, this guild was originally established in another VRMMO. Its nature was quite unique, somewhat similar to "Crimson Wing." It consisted entirely of highly skilled, elite players. Their strength was not far behind Yuuki's, though their structure was fundamentally different from "Crimson Wing."

While "Crimson Wing" was a guild, it already functioned as a fully developed organization, complete with all the elements required of a faction. It not only had powerful players but also included members specializing in life skills and production skills, as well as merchants managing finances and other aspects. Its comprehensive and mature system was respected even by the Nine Great Races, making it the largest and strongest guild in ALfheim, standing on par with the Nine Great Races.

Within "Crimson Wing," the players specializing in boss raids were led by Kirito and Leafa, with Kirito serving as the leader of the clearing group and Leafa as the deputy leader.

The group dedicated to life and production skills was managed by Lis and Silica, with Lis as the leader and Silica as the deputy leader.

The merchant group was naturally led by Agil, who had experience running a shop in SAO, with Sachi assisting him, making Agil the leader and Sachi the deputy leader.

Each person fulfilled their respective roles. Klein, who claimed that his real-world job kept him busy enough, declined a management role in the game. He stepped down as the leader of "Fuurinkazan" to join "Crimson Wing" as a member of the clearing group, essentially becoming a hands-off participant.

As such, nearly all of Rozen's close companions held leadership roles in "Crimson Wing." Rozen was the guild leader, Asuna the deputy leader, and everyone except Klein were key figures.

After Sinon joined, she also became part of the clearing group. If things proceeded as expected, she would soon rise through the ranks to become a core member of Rozen's team, participating in their activities.

On the other hand, "Sleeping Knights" was purely a clearing-focused guild.

In ALfheim, while many guilds existed with varying purposes—some for clearing, others for production or trading—none matched the comprehensive and mature structure of "Crimson Wing."

Even though "Sleeping Knights" was quite renowned in other VRMMOs, it hadn't developed into a massive organization like "Crimson Wing." Instead, it continued to focus solely on boss clearing, maintaining a highly selective membership policy. At its peak, the guild only ever had around a dozen or twenty members, making it rather modest in terms of size.

Nevertheless, every member of "Sleeping Knights" was exceptionally skilled.

As Asuna explained, the current "Sleeping Knights" guild consisted of only six members. If these six were to be compared against Rozen's team, they would likely hold their ground.

"Lis, Silica, and Sachi aside, their combat skills are somewhat lacking. That leaves just you, me, Kirito, Leafa, Klein, and Agil—a total of six people. If we were to compete against the members of 'Sleeping Knights,' aside from you, the rest of us would likely find ourselves locked in intense and evenly matched battles, struggling to determine a winner," Asuna said, giving such a high evaluation.

"They really are formidable," Rozen remarked candidly.

For a six-person guild to hold such strength that it could rival Rozen's fixed team, their capabilities were beyond doubt.

If such a guild had appeared in ALfheim earlier, they would undoubtedly have already made a name for themselves.

However, as Asuna explained, the members of "Sleeping Knights" had only transferred from other games to ALfheim about a week ago, spending less than half a month in this world.

Despite this, they already had a goal.

"They aim to defeat the floor guardian boss with just the power of their guild."

When Asuna mentioned this, a thought immediately flashed through Rozen's mind.

"As expected, that's what they're after."

This goal was exactly what Rozen had anticipated.

But precisely because he had foreseen it, Rozen couldn't help but say:

"I'm not sure whether to call them ambitious or reckless."

Rozen offered this mixed evaluation.

There was a good reason for this.

In the current revamped Aincrad, the floor guardian bosses had been strengthened far beyond the original SAO versions.

The updated system had undergone significant changes, making a direct comparison between the two eras perhaps unfair.

However, during SAO, floor guardian bosses, while formidable, could be defeated without casualties as long as a careful plan was devised.

Otherwise, in the death-game context, where every battle could result in loss of life, players would have been consumed by despair, and there would have been no clearing groups to advance the game's completion.

In other words, during SAO, while floor guardian bosses were strong, they weren't entirely hopeless to defeat.

In contrast, in the revamped Aincrad, the guardian bosses had become far more powerful due to enhanced entertainment value and gameplay mechanics. Players could now challenge these bosses without fear of permanent death, and with the addition of original SAO players and the magic system, the difficulty of these battles had been drastically increased to prevent the progression from becoming dull.

The guardian bosses possessed extraordinary abilities, such as invisibility, burrowing, transformation, or flight, making them absurdly strong. They could easily wipe out players like scattering dandelion fluff.

To succeed in these battles, players typically needed to sacrifice lives, assembling the maximum number of participants allowed and including as many healers as possible.

As of now, across the 26 floors successfully cleared, the smallest recorded clearing group to defeat a guardian boss consisted of 35 members in a joint effort.

For comparison, during SAO, a single clearing party could hold up to six members, and eight such parties formed a 48-member clearing group. In ALfheim, a party could consist of up to seven members, and seven such parties formed a 49-member clearing group.

Even with these larger groups, it wasn't uncommon to hear of full 49-member clearing groups being entirely wiped out on lower floors of revamped Aincrad. The 35-member team that managed to defeat a boss sacrificed 30 members in the process, relying heavily on resurrection magic and items.

Thus, the challenge of defeating a guardian boss was colossal.

Previously, Rozen himself had soloed the 24th-floor guardian boss. In that instance, he had fully utilized "Mind's Eye," "Fantasy Acceleration," and his strongest abilities to push through, ultimately defeating the boss in a legendary battle lasting an hour and a half.

Even so, that feat was deemed a miracle by players, considered an impossible event to replicate.

This illustrates how difficult guardian boss battles had become in the revamped Aincrad.

////Happy new year folks, hope 2025 will be better than 2024 lmao////