The Giant Ape was stunned by the Revolving Shield. Seeing this, the others naturally didn't miss the chance to kick a man while he was down, rushing to the Giant Ape's side to unleash skills.
The combined attacks caused massive damage to the Giant Ape. Once it recovered from the stun, the Giant Ape immediately focused on Illustrious, as the attacks she launched had dealt the most damage.
Illustrious had maximized the aggro. The Giant Ape naturally wouldn't spare such a massive threat, swinging its club vertically with a bang. Seeing the Giant Ape attack, Illustrious leaped backward. Landing, she pushed off with her feet, dashed towards the Giant Ape's right arm (which was on the ground), and lightly jumped onto the Giant Ape's fist.
Running along the fist up to the Giant Ape's head, Illustrious aimed for the eyes, the most vulnerable part of any creature, and used Horizontal. This sliced open both of the Giant Ape's eyes, causing blood to spray from the eye sockets.
The Giant Ape grabbed its massive club and swung it, trying to smash Illustrious, who was standing on its shoulder, into paste. Seeing the club swing towards her, Illustrious performed a front flip and jumped down to the ground.
Due to inertia and its inability to see clearly because of the eye injury, the massive club struck the Giant Ape's own head, giving it a concussion. The Giant Ape swayed a few times and collapsed onto its side.
Seeing the Giant Ape fall, the group did not stop. Knowing the importance of the finishing blow, everyone unleashed skills again. Their weapons glowed, and several attacks landed on the Giant Ape. Klein's attack was particularly sneaky: he used Flashing Penetrator and stabbed the Giant Ape right in the ass.
"Crack! Clang!"
Attacked by so many people, the Giant Ape could not get up again and dissolved into over twenty purple fragments. These purple fragments turned into five different-sized clusters of purple light that shot towards Illustrious and the others.
The largest cluster of light split into two halves: one half merged into Illustrious's body, and the other appeared in her hand as a set of clothes. The smallest cluster of light split into two halves: one half merged into Agil's body, and the other appeared in his hand as a War Hammer.
As the light entered their bodies, Illustrious and the others felt their strength increase slightly, which greatly pleased them. As long as they continued killing monsters, they could become truly strong.
Illustrious and her companions sat down to rest for a while, as the continuous fighting had heavily drained their stamina.
Now that the monsters had been eliminated by the players, they finally had time, and the players began a heated discussion about the problems occurring in this world.
"What does everyone think about the current situation?" Agil sighed after glancing around at the players.
"How did monsters from sword art online get into the real world? I feel like the world is going to hell," Klein said, exaggerating the danger.
"No way! They're just a bunch of monsters, right? Doesn't our world have nuclear weapons? If one isn't enough, use two. They'll definitely wipe out these monsters then," said a person named Ya Wang dismissively.
"Use two? That's easy for you to say. Using nuclear weapons is a pyrrhic victory—harming the enemy by a thousand while hurting yourself by eight hundred. Nihon already has environmental issues caused by nuclear incidents. Don't you, as a member of the 'Great Nuclear Nation,' have any sense?" Illustrious looked at Ya Wang with the gaze one reserves for an idiot. "So, do you really think the country would use nuclear weapons so easily unless absolutely necessary?"
"You... Hmph!" Ya Wang decided that since Illustrious was quite pretty, a good man shouldn't fight with a woman. (It definitely wasn't because the surrounding people looked like they wanted to hit him that he stopped arguing with Illustrious.)
"What I find stranger is why we are suddenly on the street. I was clearly playing sword art online at home just before. And Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of sword art online, clearly intended to trap us 10,000 players in the game. Why did a meteor attack suddenly happen? Could Akihiko Kayaba have caused all of this?" Kirito asked, puzzled.
Illustrious put on the look of a famous detective, indicating she had discovered the truth. "It must be Akihiko Kayaba's doing. Otherwise, how could all these monsters coincidentally be from sword art online? And you must have noticed the power we possess: not only has our strength increased, but we can also use Sword Skills from sword art online."
"Furthermore, by killing monsters, our strength gets even greater, and killing Elite Monsters or higher yields items."
Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly felt that what Illustrious said made a lot of sense, yet also made no sense. First, if Akihiko Kayaba truly possessed god-like abilities, why wouldn't he just conjure the Floating Castle directly? Why go through the trouble of creating a game? Since he needed to create a game to observe his imagined world, it suggested he couldn't conjure the Floating Castle at all.
The increasing number of doubts caused everyone to frown.
"Can we go home now? I want to go back and check on things at home." Compared to discussing such profound problems, Asuna wanted to go home more, as she had school and exams tomorrow, so she spoke softly.
"But who knows if we'll run into monsters on the way home? What should we do if we accidentally encounter one?" worried a girl named Silica.
"Then let's travel back together! That way we can watch out for each other," said a lively girl with short pink hair named Lisbeth.
"Then let's form a party and go home together! That will be safer." Agil was very worried about the safety of his home, so he concluded, "Does everyone agree?"
"No objections!"
"I agree! Hey! Team up with me to go back!"
"Hey girl! I'm really strong, want me to protect you home?"
Kirito had no one to team up with, and Klein, seeing how pitiful he looked, offered to team up. Kirito was very happy and agreed, and the two good buddies hugged each other and laughed.
Agil saw that Silica and Lisbeth weren't very strong, so he offered to team up and protect them home. Silica and Lisbeth said that was perfectly fine.
Agil looked tall and mighty, with strong muscles; he could scare people without even fighting. Moreover, Agil was very strong, so he was someone who could fight, not just scare.
With a bodyguard who was both intimidating and capable of fighting to protect them home, they naturally had no problem. Agil, Silica, and Lisbeth happily formed a team.
Illustrious proposed teaming up with Asuna, and Asuna didn't object, happily agreeing.
Illustrious hadn't forgotten her mission in this world, which was to protect Asuna for three years. If anything happened to her, it would be troublesome.
Soon, the sword art online players here had all formed their teams. As they were leaving, Agil said he wanted to create a sword art online group and asked for everyone's LINE ID so they could discuss any problems in the group.
Everyone was very enthusiastic about joining the group. After all, they were all sword art online players, and now their bodies were different from ordinary people. If any physical problems arose, they could better understand them together.
"Where do you live, Asuna?" Illustrious asked.
"I live in Setagaya Ward, East Capital!" Asuna replied.
"Setagaya Ward is a wealthy residential area, isn't it? Asuna, could you be the daughter of a rich family?" Illustrious wondered.
"The Yuuki family isn't particularly rich, you know! There are several families nearby who are richer than us," Asuna said casually.
"Yuuki family? Wait a minute, what's your father's name?" Illustrious turned to stare at Asuna and asked.
"Yuuki Shouzou!" Asuna blinked and replied.
"Yuuki Shouzou! The CEO of 'RECT Manufacturing,' that major Japanese electronics manufacturer? This person is actually your father? Oh my god! You're a rich, beautiful, fair-skinned lady! Miss, do you need a hanger? I want to cling to your leg." Illustrious had only watched the first season of sword art online in her previous life.
The first season of the anime didn't mention Asuna's family situation, so now she had no idea about it.
Illustrious came to this world three months ago. At that time, she was penniless. To get the NERvGear first-generation civilian full-dive machine, Illustrious went to work as a maid at a maid cafe, and she worked there for three months.
After receiving three months' salary, Illustrious immediately resigned. It wasn't because the work was too hard, but because wearing a Maid Outfit and calling men 'master' was too shameful.
When Illustrious saw Asuna again, her gaze changed. If she could win Asuna over and make her her girlfriend, wouldn't she be able to live a life of leisure, never having to work again?
Good idea. So Illustrious immediately hugged Asuna's leg and refused to let go, causing Asuna to shake her leg, trying to dislodge Illustrious who was clinging to her. "Illustrious, stop this, you're making it so I can't walk."
"I'll let go, but you have to agree to my request." Illustrious looked up at Asuna and said.
"What request? If it's not too much, I can agree." Asuna was a little disgusted with Illustrious clinging to her leg, feeling that Illustrious was a rogue who would take advantage whenever possible.
"It's not too much, I want you to be my girlfriend." Illustrious said with a grin.
"Illustrious, don't joke. We are girls, so we can't be your girlfriend." Asuna thought Illustrious was abnormal. Biologically, two girls couldn't be together, after all, they were both 'concave,' and sticking together wouldn't produce happiness.
"Asuna, there's something called yuri in this world, you should learn about it. What yuri is..." Illustrious kept indoctrinating Asuna with some strange knowledge from below.
"Girls can be together too? Oh my god! This world is too crazy." Hearing Illustrious talk a lot about yuri in anime, manga, and reality, Asuna felt as if a brand new door to the world had opened in her heart.
"So you agree? If you don't agree, I won't let go." Illustrious's'salty pig hand' kept clinging to Asuna's leg, refusing to let go no matter what.
"Being a girlfriend is impossible, but being your friend is fine." Asuna had no choice but to be pestered by Illustrious, so she proposed a compromise.
"Good! Starting as friends is also good. You have to eat one bite at a time, no need to rush." Illustrious immediately let go of Asuna's leg and then asked, "By the way, Asuna, what's your real name?"
"My name is Yuuki Asuna, you can call me Asuna. And you? What's your real name?" Asuna really wanted to get to know Illustrious. Although Illustrious was a little strange, she was a gentle person.
"My real name? It's also Illustrious." Illustrious didn't use a nickname in sword art online, she used her real name directly.
"Only a given name, no surname?" Asuna asked, confused.
"My surname is Guang and my given name is Hui, can't you tell?" Illustrious began to doubt Asuna's intelligence.
"I feel like you're insulting my intelligence." Seeing Illustrious's gaze, Asuna said, displeased.
"From the map, your house is at least twenty kilometers away, too far. Let's take a car!" Illustrious grabbed Asuna's hand, led her to a car parked on the road, released Asuna's slender hand, and inserted a wire into the car lock.
Asuna watched Illustrious's car-stealing actions. As a young lady raised with an elite education, she naturally wouldn't stand by and watch Illustrious's illegal behavior. She immediately shouted, "Illustrious, do you know what you're doing!"
"Doing what? Borrowing a car!" Illustrious said righteously.
Asuna shook her head. She didn't believe a flimsy wire could open a car lock, so she advised Illustrious, "Stop it, that car lock isn't that easy to open. Let's call a taxi... What, you actually opened it?"
Asuna was shocked. Inserting a wire into the car lock and opening it in less than half a minute, Illustrious, why are you so skilled at this!
"Why call a taxi? At this time, taxis are too busy escaping to pick you up. Don't dawdle, get in quickly! I feel something dangerous rushing over from this direction." Opening the car door, Illustrious, who was in the driver's seat, waved her hand at Asuna, urgently calling out.
No sooner had Illustrious finished speaking than a five-meter-tall dragon, 100 meters behind the car, crashed through the wall of an office building and appeared before Illustrious and Asuna's eyes.
Seeing the huge dragon appear, Asuna panicked. She no longer blamed Illustrious for stealing the car; after all, escaping was the priority now.
Rushing into the car, sitting down, and fastening her seatbelt, all in one smooth motion. Asuna's series of actions was so fluid that one couldn't help but marvel, indeed, humans often unleash immense power when their lives are threatened.
Asuna said frantically, "A dragon! Is this also a monster from sword art online? What's happening to this world? Look, it's the Self-Defense Forces, they're attacking the dragon with guns, but the dragon seems stronger. Oh no, the dragon is rushing towards us, drive quickly!"
"Don't bother me, I don't have the car keys, I can only hotwire it." Illustrious was concentrating on finding the two ignition wires from a bundle of wires.
Without car keys, it is possible to connect wires to start a car, but of course, you can't just connect two wires together to ignite it.
You must understand the principle by which a car's igniter works. It must make contact and then immediately separate to generate a relatively large self-induced electromotive force, producing a higher ignition voltage.
"Then hurry up! Otherwise, we're doomed." Looking at the dragon rushing from behind, Asuna urged Illustrious.
"Alright, alright! Almost done, connect this wire here, and then..." Illustrious was in the process of ignition.
"It's over, it's going to breathe fire at us." Turning her head, looking at the dragon, Asuna saw a fireball constantly brewing in the dragon's mouth.
"Alright, it can start now, let's get out of here immediately." After connecting the two wires, the car engine started.
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