floor, and defeat the final boss that resides there. All players still alive at that time will be immediately logged out of the game. I give you all my word.' Ten thousand players stood in silence. It was then that I realized what Kayaba had meant when he had said «get to the top of this castle». This castle—meant the huge monstrosity that had imprisoned all of the players on the first floor with ninety nine more floors stacked on top of the others, towering into the sky while floating in it. He was talking about Aincrad itself. "Clear...all 100 floors!?" Cline suddenly shouted. He got up quickly and raised a fist up to the sky. "And how do you want us to do that? I heard that getting up was crazy hard even during the beta testing!" This was true. During the two months of beta testing, the one thousand players that had taken part had only managed to get to the sixth floor. Even if ten thousand people had dived right now, how long would it take to get through all 100 floors? Most players who had been forced here would have been asking this answer-less question. The strained silence eventually gave way to low murmuring. But there was no sign of fear or despair. Most people here would still be confused about whether this was a «real danger» or a «seriously warped opening event». Everything Kayaba had said was so horrifying that it felt unreal.