22nd Floor (Aincrad)

The 22nd Floor (第22層) of Aincrad is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Aincrad. Although it is one of the lower floors, with around 9 km in diameter, most of the floor's surface is occupied by lakes and forests. Monsters only seldom appear within this floor and even the Labyrinth on this floor had a very mild difficulty. The floor is also known for not having any Field Bosses, unlike most of the other floors.

Geography
The floor mostly consists of several deep coniferous forests, grass plains and numerous lakes that dot the landscape. The forests and lakes together occupy most of the floor's area, with a humongous lake, with a diameter of about 1 kilometer, existing in the middle of the floor and the floor's Labyrinth being situated on the northern coast of the humongous lake. The floor's terrain is mountainous and hilly with different areas of the floor being connected via raised wooden walkways. The floor posses a beautiful view of the landscape.

Coral
Coral Village is the main settlement of the floor, located in the southern coast of a giant lake in the middle of the floor. Coral is small to the point that it may even be called a hamlet.

The Lake Outside Coral
Although there are several lakes on this floor, the lake outside of Coral is the only one with a very high difficulty and is also a place where a local fish god, that appears during a fishing event, lives.

Asuna and Kirito's Forest Home
After Asuna and Kirito got engaged, they came to find a log cabin that Kirito had discovered by chance in one of the floor's forests while the front line was still at this floor. The log cabin, located in near the southwestern edge of the floor, was also part of the «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures» quest and could only be bought after the quest was completed.

The Northwestern Cliffs
The northwestern side of the floor includes an area that is sealed off by cliffs and is inaccessible on foot. This is the site for the «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures». A witch castle is located within the elliptical sealed off quest area.

History
As the difficulty of the 22nd Floor is exceptionally low, the clearers managed to defeat the Floor Boss within 3 days of the floor being unlocked which was far below the average clearing rate at the time. After the Labyrinth was cleared, as there were no important quests on the floor, it mostly only attracted only fishermen and woodcrafters with its large lakes and forests.

On October 24, 2024, Kirito returned to the floor with Asuna to buy a detached house in the forest. However, the house they were looking for was not present at the location that it was supposed to be and they later found out that the house was part of the «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures» quest. After triggering the quest, they were taken to an isolated location in the northwestern area of the floor where they had to defeat the Witch of the West before being able to buy the house. Afterwards, the couple spent nearly two weeks on the floor, engaging in various activities and adventures.

Later, in New Aincrad, the floor was unlocked on Christmas Eve of 2025 after Asuna's party joined the boss raid force as soon as the 21st-30th floors were made conquerable in the Christmas Eve's patch and, after an intense battle, managed to defeat the boss. The first thing that Asuna and Kirito did after reaching this floor was to re-buy their old forest home within the forests of this floor.

Known Monsters

 * «Maroon Wolf»

Known Bosses

 * The King of Lakes (fishing event boss)
 * The Witch of the West (quest boss)

Known Quests

 * The «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures»

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