"Is this what life is?"
Although Kaede's strength was not equal to Kirito's, in the time it took Kirito to swing his sword twice, Kaede could slash three times.
However, Kaede's figure danced beneath the shards left behind by the dying monsters, but there was no joy in her eyes.
"Is this what life is? So fragile, so weak."
For no reason, Kaede began to sigh in her heart.
But Kaede's speed was getting faster and faster, and she showed no mercy with her hands.
"But all this is because you are too weak. So weak that you can't even protect your own lives."
Seeming to be reminded of herself, Kaede's eyes slowly filled with killing intent, and the sword in her hand swung continuously, each slash striking the monsters fiercely.
The flashing blade light grew faster and faster, until finally, it completely enveloped Kaede's figure, leaving those behind her stunned.
Within that sea of blade light, the eyes of its wielder grew brighter and brighter.
"I just need to survive... that's enough."
"But the price of surviving is becoming stronger. Only by becoming stronger can one survive here!"
Kaede didn't like fighting, didn't like corners; she only liked, only wanted to protect herself and survive.
Fighting was for becoming stronger, for surviving; corners were for hiding, for surviving.
Everything, in the end, had only one goal: to survive.
"Hmm?"
At this moment, a monster slipped through the triangle formed by the three of them; after all, there were only three of them, and it was easy to let one slip through.
"Sachi!!" Surprisingly, that monster was charging straight towards Sachi.
"Ugh..." Sachi couldn't help but retreat; a monster of this level was definitely not something she could withstand.
At this moment, the monster had already rushed over, its hand already slashing down. With a level difference of over twenty, perhaps Sachi couldn't even withstand a single blow.
"Sachi!!" His eyes were splitting with rage, but Kirito was not close to Sachi at this moment. Even if Kirito desperately reached out his hand, he couldn't reach her.
The next moment, a severed arm flew through the air, and eventually, the flying arm turned into shards of light and disappeared.
The moment after that, three or four blade marks appeared directly on the monster's body, and before it could even resist, it shattered into fragments.
Beneath the fragments, Kaede glanced at Sachi and returned to her position.
That glance, however, left Sachi feeling cold all over. That kind of indifferent gaze toward her, the coldness that disregarded her own life, left Sachi a bit confused.
She was definitely not interested in her own life, but why did she save her? Looking at her eyes, she was definitely not the type of person who would take the initiative to save others. Unnaturally, a trace of fear grew in Sachi's eyes as she looked at Kaede.
"Phew!!" Kirito breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Kaede with some gratitude, and then felt a pain in his back. Kirito, who had been paying attention to Sachi, didn't react in time and was fiercely attacked by a monster.
However, unlike Sachi, it was impossible for anything to happen to Kirito even if he took a few hits. At this moment, such pain stirred a sense of ferocity in Kirito's heart.
When the monster behind him tried to attack again, Kirito turned around and slashed down with his sword. At this moment, the monster's hand had already touched Kirito's hair, but it could only stop there because, the next moment, it shattered.
Lifting his head, Kirito's expression was a bit ferocious, "You all deserve to die!"
Kirito was afraid, not of these monsters, but of Sachi and the others in the Moonlit Black Cats dying, and all this was because he had hidden his level.
He could see the monsters' levels; they were definitely monsters that appeared according to his own level. In other words, if anything happened to the Moonlit Black Cats, at least the vast majority of the reason lay with him!
Returning to his position once again, this time Kirito used all, no, exceeded his limits.
Asuna, on her side, could not spare the energy to observe Kaede and Kirito's side.
If Asuna had seen Kaede at this moment, she would definitely have felt very unfamiliar with her.
Because at this moment, Kaede had turned into a killing machine. Slashing, piercing, downward hacking—her movements were incredibly skillful, and the connections were far beyond her usual self.
She didn't know what she was thinking in her mind anymore; Kaede now only wanted to destroy all the enemies in front of her. Perhaps, if it weren't for Asuna's previous words, Kaede would never have wasted time saving Sachi.
Because the time spent saving Sachi was enough for Kaede to take out more than three enemies.
Whether it was the killing-intent-filled Kirito or Kaede, who had fallen into a strange state, both were definitely nightmares for the enemies.
It could be said that even if there were twice as many of these monsters, they couldn't threaten the two of them.
Slowly, Asuna's side also became easier, as there were fewer monsters. Only then could Asuna observe the situation around her, and then she was stunned.
Kirito was still there, acting as a guardian for the Moonlit Black Cats.
But Kaede was wandering around, pinning a small monster to the wall with one slash, then continuing to search for the next monster, charging again with her sword in hand.
"Little Kaede..." Asuna looked at Kaede. The cold expression on her face, her eyes bright but devoid of emotion—was this really the same little sister who acted like a child every day, calling her "big sister"?
"Little Kaede!!" Unable to accept Kaede's current state at all, Asuna couldn't help but call out, wanting to grab Kaede, wanting to make Kaede stop.
Don't show this expression anymore; she was the big sister, how could she let her little sister show such an expression?
"Big sister?" Kaede was stunned, and suddenly, the sparkle returned to her eyes. She looked at Asuna running towards her, but the next moment, Kaede's expression became ferocious.
"Big sister!" Kaede rushed towards Asuna, her speed somewhat terrifying.
"This speed..." Kirito, who had accidentally seen this, was also taken aback.
"Little Kaede..." Asuna looked at Kaede rushing towards her, at her ferocious expression, and the long sword in her hand. Her heart couldn't help but ache. Was she going to swing her sword at her?
The next moment, Kaede had arrived in front of Asuna and swung her sword down.
Then, a figure was fiercely slashed away and hit the wall. Before it could shatter, Kaede arrived in front of it again and, with eyes full of killing intent, stabbed it with her sword.
"How dare you bully big sister, how dare you attack big sister!!" Saying this, Kaede kept slashing, and before the monster had completely dissipated, it was slashed three or four more times.
Finally, the miserable monster turned into shards and disappeared.
"Phew!" Supporting herself with her sword, Kaede panted heavily; that last move seemed to have exhausted all her strength.
"Little Kaede!"
At this moment, Asuna hugged Kaede from behind.
What was she thinking at that time? What was she thinking? How could her little Kaede possibly swing a sword at her? Asuna blamed herself internally, and tears couldn't help but fall.
"Little Kaede, don't be like this anymore, don't show this expression again, it's too painful. Big sister, big sister doesn't want you to show such an expression!"
Asuna was afraid. She felt like a stranger to that state of Kaede, too strange, as if she were about to leave her at any moment. She had grown accustomed to Kaede, so this couldn't happen; Kaede couldn't leave!
"Big sister..." Kaede was stunned, finally nodded, and smiled, "Mm, I know, big sister!"
"That's right, I'm not alone anymore. There is someone I can protect with my life." Kaede smiled, very happily. It was a pity that because it was a game, there was no blood; if there were, perhaps Kaede's smile at this moment would have possessed a sense of tragic beauty~
And at this time, Kirito had also finished cleaning up the remaining monsters and was also panting a bit there.
Then, disregarding his own exhausted body, Kirito came to Kaede and bowed deeply to her.
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