In front of the path leading to the twenty-first-floor boss room, Lisbeth kept looking down the road that led here.
She was checking whether her friend had arrived yet.
What kind of special story quest had Asuna suddenly triggered, exactly? It had caused every cleared floor boss to revive.
That had startled a lot of people. For a moment, many had thought the floors they had already cleared would be sealed off again.
If that happened, they would have to defeat the bosses all over again to reopen the routes. The lower floors might still be manageable, but on the higher floors, even bosses that had already been cleared once could still cost lives if they had to be fought again.
Fortunately, the Teleport Gates could still be used normally.
"Lisbeth, Asuna said the NPC in her quest is even stronger than she is. How strong do you think he is?"
The curious question came from Silica, a girl standing beside her who was even younger than Lisbeth.
In Silica's arms was a small flying dragon. It was a familiar she had been lucky enough to tame, which had earned Silica the title of Beast Tamer.
But because she had obtained such a familiar by chance, countless people had sought her out, trying to learn how to tame one themselves.
Silica herself did not know how she had done it, and the girl had been frightened by so many people approaching her. After that, Asuna had looked after her.
Lisbeth herself had been looked after by Asuna to some extent as well, so she could more or less be considered Asuna's personal blacksmith.
The equipment Asuna wore had all been carefully forged by Lisbeth.
"I'm not sure either—oh? They're here!"
Lisbeth's eyes lit up.
She saw a figure racing toward them at incredible speed, with Asuna carried in his arms.
Wow. That sight had no idea how many of Asuna's admirers nearby burning with envy, jealousy, and resentment.
Some of them could only comfort themselves by thinking that he was just an NPC, not a real person.
In the span of a few breaths, the figure leaped to Lisbeth's side.
"Lisbeth, did you bring them?"
"Yeah, I did."
Lisbeth nodded.
The reason she was waiting here for Asuna was that Asuna had asked her to bring some items and hand them over here.
She looked nervously at the NPC who had just set Asuna down from a princess carry.
He looked like a handsome young man with clean, well-proportioned features. What was strange was that she could not see his name or his HP bar. The only thing visible above his head was a red cursor.
A red cursor meant he was in combat status.
In other words, he could attack them too?
He would not suddenly attack her, would he?
On the way here, this NPC had defeated every boss in a single blow. The twentieth floor had been no different. Lisbeth believed she could definitely be shattered in one hit too.
If he attacked her, that would be absurdly unfair.
"Miss Asuna, how did you trigger this quest?"
"Can you tell us?"
"This NPC is so strong, and he's been clearing every monster you encounter along the way. If we attack them a few times first, couldn't we use him to help farm experience?"
Curious voices suddenly rose from the surrounding crowd. A few people even came straight toward them, saying they could discuss payment for the information in private.
With those few taking the lead, the others also feared that someone else might seize the information first. For a moment, they began gradually crowding in.
Seeing this, Lisbeth felt that something was wrong.
"That's enough. Don't come any closer!"
Asuna's voice turned cold.
She even drew her sword and swept it through the air before some of them could get any closer, making it clear that another step would bring them into her attack range.
She was trying to intimidate them into stopping.
The action did make most people halt. But a few dissatisfied voices still rose, accusing her of being selfish.
Gradually, the discontent began to spread, and Asuna keenly sensed malice from several people in the crowd.
Those were the ones stirring up the tense atmosphere and pushing more people to move closer.
Suddenly, something flew toward her.
Asuna's heart jumped.
It was a throwing dart, and it had missed Asuna by only ten centimeters.
The reason it had missed was that Mr. Kain had caught it.
Before Asuna could react, her vision blurred, and the dart had already been thrown back.
A scream rang out.
Asuna looked toward the sound and saw a woman—a rather seductive-looking one.
A dart was lodged in one of the woman's eyes, making her scream.
In SAO, pain had been reduced to the point that it could barely be felt. Her scream was mainly caused by fear.
Normally, she should have been able to pull the dart out, but she remained frozen in place.
Asuna immediately understood why.
It was a dart with a paralysis effect.
"Damn it! The NPC monster attacked someone! Get him!"
"Wait!"
Asuna's expression changed, and she shouted to stop them.
But several people charged in with weapons without giving her any chance to explain.
Using arrows as cover, they moved in while Mr. Kain caught the incoming shots. Two of them had already slipped close, their blades about to stab into Mr. Kain's body.
Asuna tried to cut across with her rapier and stop them, but another person attacked her at the same time, forcing her to defend herself.
Two screams rang out.
Asuna, who had just blocked the attack against her, froze for a moment.
The two people who had nearly succeeded now had arrows stabbed into their eye sockets.
Clearly, Mr. Kain had moved too fast. After catching the incoming arrows, he had driven them backward into their eyes before their attacks could land.
In the next second, Mr. Kain's hand seemed to turn into dozens of arms.
Everything happened in the span of a single breath.
When the others came back to themselves, the arrow in his hand had shattered and disappeared. Its durability had broken and vanished.
As for the two screaming men, their heads were now riddled with holes.
Their jaws trembled slightly as if they were trying to say something, but their bodies shattered into countless points of light and disappeared.
Immediately after, their weapons began to fall from where they had been held. But before they could hit the ground, a figure flashed past, and the weapons vanished.
"W-Wait, I—"
The first archer was not given time to finish his last words. His body was cut into three pieces, and his HP bar emptied instantly before he disappeared.
Screams erupted.
A second man tried to flee, but he had run less than a meter before Kain sent his head flying.
Because his head had been separated from his neck, the blow was judged as fatal. His HP bar instantly emptied as well, and he shattered into countless motes of data-light.
"Everyone else, don't attack! If you don't attack, you won't draw aggro, and he won't attack you!"
Asuna shouted loudly.
Some people who had been frightened into instinctive reactions—some of whom were not trying to run, but were about to attack on reflex—hurriedly stopped themselves.
"Ah!"
Another startled cry rang out.
A man's arm had been severed, and the detached hand was holding a throwing dart.
It was not the woman who had attacked Asuna at first. It was one of her accomplices, who had pulled the dart out for her. Just as he did, his arm had been severed by a blade Mr. Kain had thrown.
"W-Wait! I didn't attack! Aaaah!"
The accomplice who had helped remove the dart screamed.
Three weapons had buried themselves into his body, nearly running him through.
The reason he screamed was that the woman who had attacked Asuna had suddenly yanked him in front of herself, using him to block the blades Mr. Kain had thrown.
One blade struck the abdomen, one struck the heart, and one struck the head.
The one to the head was the fatal blow.
"Transfer! Andal Street!"
A voice filled with fear and anger rang out.
The instigator who had started this slaughter—the detestable woman—activated the Transfer Crystal in her hand, and it began to glow.
She was trying to escape.
In the next instant, almost at the same time Mr. Kain lunged at her, the woman's figure disappeared.
Damn it. She still got away.
Asuna clenched her teeth in frustration.
Then she froze.
Asuna's pupils widened.
She and the others around her all noticed that Mr. Kain was holding "a piece" of something in his hand.
Something he had torn from that woman's body.
For a moment, the sight made everyone's scalp prickle.
(End of Chapter)
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