Silica: "I didn't provoke the Boss. When I was out shopping with a friend, we were attacked by the Boss Kobold. It caused my friend's hand to be injured by falling building debris. Now her family won't let me visit her. They say it's my fault their daughter got hurt, and they even say Rulers are harbingers of disaster, that monsters attack wherever we go."
Illustrious: "Your friend's family is going too far. This isn't your fault; it was clearly caused by that Boss Kobold. Your friend's family likely thinks that since the Boss Kobold is overwhelmingly powerful and they can't fight it, they would rather bully a weak little girl like you."
Asuna: "Silica, don't be sad. If your friend truly considers you a friend, she definitely won't blame you."
Klein: "If things keep going like this, it's really not a solution! As Rulers, we are constantly being attacked by monsters. We don't provoke them, yet they attack us like madmen. If we get caught or killed by them, it'll be miserable—the way we die is by being eaten and swallowed into their stomachs."
Daga: "I'm almost annoyed to death by these monsters. I've been attacked at least twice a day. Once, when I was in the bathroom, a dwarf suddenly broke the door down with a pickaxe and tried to attack me. I was in the middle of taking a dump, butt not even wiped yet, and I had to pull out my sword to hack that dwarf to death."
Kirito: "What do you think? If we kill the Boss Kobold, will all the monsters in its vicinity disappear?"
Illustrious: "That's worth a try. But for now, let's focus on killing small monsters to increase our strength. How about we team up to kill it when the time comes?"
Agil (Group Owner): "I heard there's a person named Alice. She's very powerful, a top-tier expert. She's currently forming a guild in reality similar to one in a game, called the Red Dragon Knights. All the members are super-class top experts. Today, that Alice invited me to join the guild. We had a very pleasant chat, so after we finished talking, I joined immediately."
Klein: "Really? Agil, introduce me to that Alice! Let me join her guild too."
Agil (Group Owner): "Sure, but I don't think you should get your hopes up too high. Alice's team only recruits elites. With your 'three days of fishing, two days of drying nets' approach to fighting monsters, your strength probably isn't very high right now. It seems unlikely she'll recruit you."
Klein: "If she doesn't let me join, I'll just start my own guild. I've got a bunch of bros."
[Alice is now online]
Klein: "Speak of the devil, she's online! I have to ask her right away."
Agil (Group Owner): "The success rate isn't high, but I still wish you luck."
Alice: "Hi! Hello everyone!"
Klein: "Alice-chan! Can you let me join your guild? I'm strong and sturdy; once I join, I can definitely protect the safety of the girls in your guild."
Alice: "Klein, right? Sorry, I've already heard of your reputation, but my guild doesn't recruit perverts."
Lisbeth: "Hahaha! I told you not to pester girls all the time! You even grab pretty girls' hands the moment you see them and ask them to have your children. In this group, the girls have long since pegged you as a pervert."
Klein: "Hmph! Fine, don't recruit me then. I'll ask my friends to join the guild I'm starting. Illustrious and Asuna, do you want to join my guild?"
Illustrious: "Sorry, I don't want to join your guild."
Asuna: "Thanks for the offer, but you should look for someone else!"
Klein: "How could you? If you two joined, I could use you two beauties as a signboard to recruit people. Won't you reconsider? I can make you both vice-presidents."
Daga: "I think you're crazy. Illustrious and Asuna's strength ranks in the top ten of the Ruler list. Only a fool would join your third-rate guild."
Alice: "Illustrious, Asuna, would you like to join my guild? Your strength is very high. With you joining, killing every BOSS in the world won't be much of a problem."
Agil (Group Owner): "Leader, why don't you invite Kirito? Kirito's strength also puts him in the top ten of the Ruler list."
Alice: "Before inviting you, I already approached him. He said he yearns for freedom, wants to be a lone wolf, and doesn't want to join a guild."
Kirito: "I am a black-clad lone wolf. I don't want to be bound. Joining a guild would actually lower my strength."
Asuna: "Alice, I want to join!"
Alice: "Asuna! Welcome to the Red Dragon Knights. What about you, Illustrious?"
Illustrious: "Sorry! I also want to be a lone wolf!"
Asuna: "Illustrious, you join too, or else get out of my room tonight and sleep in the living room."
Illustrious: "Since you've put it that way, fine! I'll join."
Alice: "Great! With you two joining, the guild will definitely be even more powerful than before."
Klein: "This is a lot of information, let me process this first. Setting aside the fact that you joined Alice's guild, you two, Illustrious and Asuna, are actually living together! And you're in the same room and the same bed. Oh my god! You two didn't do anything at night, right?"
Asuna: "We didn't do anything strange!"
Lisbeth: "Oh ho!'Strange things'? Asuna, aren't you just telling on yourself? Honestly confess, which one of you is on the bottom?"
Asuna: "I am not on the bottom! Lisbeth, stop spouting nonsense. Nothing happened between me and Illustrious at night."
Lisbeth: "I understand!"
Klein: "I understand too!"
Kirito: "Then I understand too!"
Daga: "Since you all understand, I naturally understand too!"
Diavel: "Everyone understands. JGP!"
Illustrious: "Bastards! What do you understand?!"
Asuna: "Yeah! What exactly do you understand?!"
Silica: "What are you all talking about? I don't understand what you mean!"
Lisbeth: "Silica, you don't understand? Let me tell you! Asuna is on the bottom, which means she is a 'uke'."
Silica: "What bottom? What 'uke'? What does that mean!"
Klein: "Little angel Silica is so innocent and cute! Everyone, don't tell her, let her keep her purity."
Asuna: "I keep saying I'm not on the bottom, I'm not a 'uke'! Illustrious, you explain it too!"
Illustrious: "Forget it! The more you explain, the less they'll believe you. If you stay silent now, maybe there's still hope."
Klein: "Two great beauties are together just like that? I'm not convinced, this is such a waste of resources."
Lisbeth: "It's useless to be unconvinced. You have to remember one thing: the opposite sex is only for reproduction, same-sex is true love."
Agil (Group Owner): "yuri is infinitely good, it's just that they can't have kids."
Alice: "Even if they can't have kids, yuri is still good."
The group chat was immediately flooded with discussions about the yuri relationship between Asuna and Illustrious, causing Asuna to log off in a huff! Seeing Asuna exit the chat group, Illustrious followed suit!
Asuna threw a pillow and quilt at Illustrious. "You're sleeping in the living room tonight!"
"Why should I! This was clearly you accidentally exposing yourself, how can you blame me!" Illustrious caught the quilt and pillow thrown at her!
"If you hadn't made a move, that kind of thing wouldn't have happened that night, and this scandal wouldn't have been exposed in the group today. For everyone's sake, let's go back to being normal friends!" Asuna said seriously.
This was the precursor to a breakup, and Illustrious panicked. "Everyone's just joking, aren't they? Do you have to be so worked up? Oh! Is it because everyone found out about our yuri relationship and teased you for being the sub, so you can't stand it and want to break up with me? If that's the case, fine, I'll just be the bottom!"
"You said it yourself—from now on, you're under me, and you'll always be the sub. So, let's start now!" Asuna laughed and pounced on Illustrious.
"So that was your plan all along! Isn't being the sub good, anyway? You don't have to do any of the work." Illustrious said helplessly.
"Stop babbling! You just said you'd be the sub, don't even think about backing out!" Asuna began to make her move.
...
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Today, Alice led the Red Dragon Knights and members of other guilds to the large plaza. This plaza was the duel plaza from sword art online, which had somehow descended onto the hill behind East Capital High School. They were currently holding a pre-battle meeting in preparation for the upcoming Boss battle.
Aside from Alice and her group, a large crowd of reporters was also present in the plaza.
These reporters had heard that Alice and her group intended to clear one of the two major BOSS-level Monsters in East Capital, the Boss Kobold Ilfang, and had already set up their cameras early in the morning.
East Capital's largest television station—East Capital Television Station—aired a program today titled: "Shocking! Ruler vs. Boss Kobold: Success or Failure!"
Countless people sat before their screens, nervously watching East Capital Television Station. Methods of viewing varied, but for the most part, the elderly used television sets, young people used computers, and children used mobile phones.
They all attached great importance to whether Alice and her group could defeat the Boss Kobold.
"Hello everyone, I'm your host, Tomiko Shucunrenbo. Today, we are focusing on the Rulers' attempt to defeat a BOSS-level Monster. We have invited two experts: the renowned military expert Ichiro, and the biological expert Ryubi." The host introduced to the television audience.
"Greetings, television audience!" Ichiro and Ryubi said in unison.
"Gentlemen, what are your thoughts on whether the Strategy Group can successfully eliminate the BOSS-level Monster?" the host asked.
Ichiro replied with a disdainful tone, "I believe they are simply courting death. A month ago, Eagle Country dropped a 1,000-ton TNT equivalent nuclear bomb and still couldn't eliminate the BOSS-level Monster Minotaur. I highly doubt those fifty-two ordinary people can eliminate the Boss Kobold."
Ryubi disagreed, "I do not share that view! Rulers can no longer be called ordinary people. When Eagle Country dropped that nuclear bomb on the White House, there was a Ruler within a kilometer of the blast site. He didn't die in the nuclear explosion; he survived."
"Furthermore, he went on to eliminate the surrounding monsters. I believe Rulers are monsters themselves. The Ruler in that plaza is a Boss among Rulers. Using a Boss-tier Ruler to defeat a BOSS-level Monster gives them at least a sixty percent chance of success."
"According to research by the Organization, the number of monsters in East Capital has remained constant. Even if eliminated by the Self-Defense Force, they reappear within a week. However, defeating a BOSS-level Monster has a seventy percent probability of causing all smaller monsters under its command to vanish permanently."
The two experts' statements immediately sparked heated discussions among the television audience, who flooded the East Capital Television Station with barrage comments.
"If even a nuclear bomb can't eliminate that BOSS-level Monster, isn't it just too terrifying?!"
"Rulers are pretty scary too. Surviving a nuclear blast? They're really on par with the monsters!"
"It's a good thing Rulers used to be human and are on our side, otherwise we'd have to face both monsters and Rulers!"
"Who says Rulers are on our side? Haven't you heard of the guild called Laughing Coffin? They don't just kill monsters; they kill humans too."
"These Rulers are all demons, worse than the monsters themselves. They should all die. I pray that those fifty-two people in the plaza perish along with the Boss Kobold; then the world might finally be at peace."
"Agreed! My mother was on the same street as a Ruler when she was attacked by a Giant Ape. Her injuries haven't even healed yet. It's all the Rulers' fault!"
"The previous three commenters, you're going too far. It's normal for some Rulers to kill humans, just as we humans have our own murderous criminals. Just because a few scumbags appear among the Rulers, you judge the entire group and wish for their deaths? Don't you feel any pangs of conscience? You have to realize that those fifty-two Rulers in the plaza are holding a pre-battle meeting to defeat the Boss Kobold. This is equivalent to them fighting for humanity!"
"Well said! To those three people who want the fifty-two Rulers in the plaza to perish with the Boss Kobold: if they find out, get upset, and stop fighting, are you going to go and fight the Boss Kobold yourselves?!"
"I was saved by a Ruler once. If she hadn't saved me, I might have died at the hands of a Stone Monster. I support the Rulers; they will definitely eliminate the monsters and restore a peaceful world for humanity."
"Go Rulers!"
"Kill the Boss Kobold! You can do it, Rulers!"
Watching the screen flooded with barrages of support for the Rulers, Asuna turned off the TV and couldn't help but smile. "It seems not everyone wants the Rulers to die. There are still many people cheering them on. To live up to their support, we Rulers must defeat the Boss Kobold."
"It seems that what we're doing isn't completely worthless. If everyone wanted the Rulers to die along with the monsters, I would absolutely quit, because it wouldn't be worth fighting for those kinds of people." Illustrious said in a serious tone.
"Alright, the leader is starting the pre-battle meeting. Listen carefully!" Asuna reminded.
Meanwhile, the host of East Capital Television Station said to the television audience, "The meeting is about to begin. Let's hand it over to our reporter on the scene!"
The reporter on the scene held the microphone and said, "Alright, host. Hello, viewers. The leader of the Strategy Group, Alice, is now beginning the pre-battle meeting. Let's take a look."
"Wow! I didn't expect the leader, Alice, to be a beautiful girl with long blue hair—this is truly surprising! Furthermore, there are two other super beautiful girls among the fifty Rulers! How about that? Are you male viewers in front of your screens feeling excited yet?!"
The cameraman adjusted the shot to capture all three beautiful girls in the frame, instantly exciting the male viewers in front of their screens.
"Oh! Incredible! The quality of these three beautiful girls is so high! They look super cute, don't they?!"
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