A considerable amount of time had passed since the first floor boss was cleared, and the situation regarding the boss raids had spiraled out of control. Although the progress wasn't fast, it was much better than the situation with the first floor boss, which took a month just to barely locate.
As for the boss raids, Kaede and Asuna would occasionally participate, but most of the time, Kaede and Asuna were in the fields or dungeon areas grinding monsters, practicing their coordination.
"Kaede, switch!"
At this moment, Asuna's stats had improved to a higher level, and her evasion speed was extremely fast.
At this moment, Kaede also passed by Asuna, and in the next instant, she arrived in front of the monster, slashing horizontally with her sword at the monster that hadn't yet recovered its stance, directly knocking the monster away.
Next, Kaede, who had originally intended to retreat and switch, saw the monster's movements, a flash of light in her eyes. She stomped her heel hard on the ground and then shot forward.
"Precise Strike!"
The monster's ultimate move was interrupted before it even began to charge. Yes, even though the monster only had that slight range of motion, Kaede had indeed observed it.
Without hesitation, Kaede directly utilized her greatest advantage, slashing three or four times in the instant the monster was stunned.
At this time, the monster recovered. With its skill interrupted, it could only use a normal attack as it lunged at Kaede.
"Block."
A Tachi blocked in front of the monster. The judgment was successful, and suddenly a blue whirlwind knocked the monster back a few steps.
And at this moment, Kaede's sword was already raised again.
"Heavy Strike!" From top to bottom, Kaede slashed fiercely at the monster's body. As Kaede slashed down, the monster slowly turned into fragments and scattered.
"..." Kaede looked at the Tachi in her hand. Indeed, she was quite satisfied with the weapon, and now her combat was barely able to be described as flowing like clouds and water. Although she couldn't compare to Kirito yet, she had made great progress in terms of the number of skills and their chaining.
"Kaede!!" At this moment, Asuna walked over, a bit dissatisfied, and pinched Kaede's ear.
"Ouch, sister, it hurts!" Kaede suddenly remembered that she seemed to have subconsciously gotten immersed in the battle again, and couldn't help but plead for mercy.
"Didn't we agree to practice our coordination? Why are you fighting alone again?" Asuna's tone was a bit helpless. Obviously, this wasn't the first time Kaede had done such a thing.
"Uh, that..." Kaede didn't know how to answer. At that time, she felt the monster was about to use a skill, so without thinking, she used Precise Strike, and the subsequent actions were all continuous.
Besides, who told that monster to be such a weakling? It was almost killed in a few slashes; truthfully, Kaede hadn't even used her ultimate move yet.
"You can't do that next time!" Before, when they couldn't coordinate, she hadn't noticed, but now Asuna suddenly realized that Kaede was actually quite warlike.
"Mm-hmm!" Kaede nodded quickly, looking at Asuna cautiously, for fear that Asuna would get angry again.
"Alright, let's continue." Asuna looked at Kaede, who was looking at her timidly like a little mouse, and couldn't help but say, feeling a bit amused.
"Mm-hmm." Seeing that Asuna was no longer angry, Kaede breathed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed.
However, when they found another target, a very mature-looking man wearing red armor walked over.
"Hmm?" Originally thinking he was just passing by, but seeing him walk straight towards them, Asuna and Kaede both stopped what they were doing.
"You must be that pair known as the sister flowers, right?" The man asked, "I am Heathcliff, and I came here to invite you to join my guild."
"A guild?" Asuna frowned. She knew about the existence of guilds, but she didn't have much interest in them.
And when Kaede saw Heathcliff, she hid behind Asuna, staring at Heathcliff.
"Our guild was established specifically to clear the boss. If you wish to clear the game quickly, I hope you can join our guild and do your utmost for the clearing. Moreover, you are the elite of the elite in this game; the clearing of the boss needs you," Heathcliff said.
"Clear the game?" Asuna paused abruptly, a flash of confusion in her eyes, feeling a bit at a loss. She had always wanted to clear the game; although Kaede's presence had reduced that desire significantly, it still existed in her heart.
"Sister..." Kaede tugged at Asuna's sleeve and shook her head at Asuna.
Asuna hesitated for a moment, then finally looked at Heathcliff and said, "Let us think about it first." Although it looked like Kaede didn't want to join, Asuna really couldn't make the final decision. (In the original work, she is a clearing demon.)
"Very well." Without any hesitation, Heathcliff looked at Kaede and then left directly, completely ignoring their appearance. You must know that they weren't wearing cloaks right now.
"What... how should I choose?" Asuna closed her eyes.
"Sister, that person is so terrifying. We absolutely cannot beat him. Let's not go, okay?" The moment Kaede saw Heathcliff, she felt it; that person was definitely someone they couldn't contend with.
"Let me, think about it..."
"Mm." Kaede nodded. Although she felt that Heathcliff was very terrifying, if Asuna joined, she would join too.
In the end, Asuna, truly unable to decide, looked up at Kaede, "Let's go find Kirito and ask for his opinion. He should be able to give us the right advice."
"Mm, okay." Kaede also nodded happily. In this game so far, besides Asuna, Kirito and that uncle were the only ones she was somewhat familiar with.
Heathcliff walked to a place and was deep in thought. Asuna was someone he absolutely had to recruit; after all, a guild couldn't just have one figurehead. However, Heathcliff frowned. To be honest, he didn't want Kaede, who was by Asuna's side, to join. While Kaede might be a cut above Asuna in strength, her observation skills gave Heathcliff a headache. He even felt that if Kaede joined, he would have to be on guard against her every single moment.
Kirito was out of the question; he was a solo player and it was almost impossible to recruit him into a guild. Thinking it over, Heathcliff could only choose Asuna, even with Kaede by her side, who might very well discover his identity.
In reality, Heathcliff was mistaken about one thing. Kaede might notice something was wrong, but she would definitely not discover his identity. Not only was she a gaming novice, she didn't even know the name of the game's developer. If Heathcliff knew that, he wondered if he would still be able to maintain that expression of having everything under control.
...
Meanwhile, Kirito was watching a few people laughing happily there, and a smile slowly formed on his lips.
This party could be said to be weak in every aspect; it was a party that had nearly been wiped out before he unintentionally saved them. However, the atmosphere here was really quite nice. Perhaps it was this atmosphere, combined with that sense of solitude from being a solo player, that made him choose to hide his level and identity while staying among them.
At this moment, Kirito saw a flashing message icon in the corner of his eye.
After seeing who sent the message, Kirito was stunned. He really hadn't expected them to come looking for him. After thinking about it, Kirito finally decided to tell them his coordinates.
"Um, I have two friends coming over tomorrow." Kirito rubbed his head, feeling a bit uncomfortable speaking in front of several people.
"Friends? That's perfect! I've discovered a very interesting place, and your friends can come with us!" The person speaking hooked their arm around Kirito's neck.
"Ahaha~" As expected, he was still a bit unaccustomed to this, and there was some sweat on Kirito's forehead.
"Um, please don't mess with Kirito-kun like that." At this moment, a girl nearby saw Kirito's expression and couldn't help but look anxious.
"Alright, alright, alright!"
"Sachi, you're taking his side so quickly!"
"Haha~~"
Kirito and Sachi exchanged glances, their faces flushing slightly as they lowered their heads. Seeing them like this, the people around them laughed even harder.
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