Kirito looked at Kaede, who had turned her head away, and sighed in his heart.
It seems it really is the worst-case scenario; something must have definitely happened between Kaede and Asuna.
However, why does she hate'strategy' so much? Even though she is known as the flower of strategy...
Suddenly, Kaede tilted her head, looked behind Kirito, and asked, "Did you call that group of people?"
"Hm?" Kirito was stunned, then reacted and turned around to look at the newcomers.
When Kirito saw the conspicuous red bandana of the person who arrived, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "So it's Klein."
"Of course it's me. Kirito, you're too reckless! This is equivalent to a Boss; is this something you can challenge alone?" As he spoke, Klein paused, seeing Kaede in front of Kirito—clearly the figure of a beautiful girl.
Immediately, Klein smirked. He had originally wanted to tease Kirito a bit, but at that moment, he saw the girl's appearance and his eyes widened. Klein could be certain that he had definitely seen her before. This was his absolute memory for beautiful girls after being single for so many years; even if he had only seen her once, he would definitely remember.
"Old man?" Kaede tilted her head and looked at Klein, thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up as she said.
"Yes, yes, that's me! Mmm, you still remember me!" A look of joy appeared on Klein's face; he had actually been remembered by a beautiful girl.
The people behind Klein looked at him a bit strangely. They were all his friends in real life and naturally knew Klein's true age; he definitely couldn't be called an old man. But at this moment, he was being called an old man and was still so happy. Inevitably, the looks a few of them gave Klein were full of pity.
"It's over, the guild leader has gone crazy." The people behind muttered.
At this moment, Klein finally noticed the pitying gazes coming from behind. "What on earth are you thinking!" Even Klein couldn't stand such gazes and couldn't help but roar.
"Um..."
"Nothing..."
The crowd looked at each other, gazed at the sky, and started to make excuses.
However, the next moment, Kaede's hand was already on the hilt of her sword, looking at Klein, asking: "Are you here to steal the item from me? No, that is something I want to give to my sister, absolutely not!"
"No! No!" Klein was taken aback. Feeling the chill radiating from Kaede's gaze, he couldn't help but be secretly shocked; this was no longer the beautiful girl who seemed like a child back then. "I came to help Kirito; after all, it's too dangerous alone."
"Right, I also told Klein when I came." Kirito said from the side. He was also really afraid that Kaede would make a move. Judging by Kaede's personality, even if she knew Klein, she wouldn't show mercy.
"Is that so?" Kaede nodded.
"Mm!!" Both Kirito and Klein nodded hurriedly. Kirito also relaxed a little in his heart; since it was a gift for Asuna, the situation shouldn't be that bad. Perhaps he was overthinking it.
"Then, are those guys hiding over there also here to help?"
"Hm?" Both Klein and Kirito were stunned, then looked at each other, their hands resting on their sword hilts.
And the people behind Klein also began to be on alert.
At this moment, a group of players wearing uniform gray outfits also appeared in front of them.
"The Holy Dragon Alliance!" Looking at the newcomers, Klein couldn't help but grit his teeth.
"The Holy Dragon Alliance, huh." Kirito's eyes also tightened.
"This bunch of guys who steal other people's equipment every day!" Clearly, Klein's personality and the Holy Dragon Alliance definitely didn't get along.
"A bunch of despicable guys." Regarding the assessment of the Holy Dragon Alliance, Kirito's words were very brief and very Refinement.
"Then, are they here to steal the item?" Kaede didn't know the 'glorious' history of the Holy Dragon Alliance; she only knew one thing: they were coming to steal the gift she was giving to her sister.
"Can I kill them?" Kaede suddenly asked.
"Uh!" Upon hearing this, cold sweat instantly broke out on Klein and Kirito's foreheads.
"No!!"
"Um, Kirito, you two should go and clear that Boss. Leave them to us." Klein said, looking at the Holy Dragon Alliance, thinking to himself, "I've just saved your lives."
"Alright then." Kirito was stunned. Looking at Kaede, who was already wanting to draw her sword to hack at the Holy Dragon Alliance, he understood Klein's intention and agreed.
"Let's go, Kaede."
"Eh? Alright." Kaede still remembered her main goal and didn't object.
When Kirito and Kaede had both left, Klein gritted his teeth and looked at the opposite side.
"You guys, let's settle our old scores!" Clearly, this wasn't Klein's first time dealing with the Holy Dragon Alliance.
...
Kaede and Kirito soon reached their destination.
The next moment, it seemed that because someone had arrived at the designated location, a behemoth suddenly descended from the sky.
It was exactly their objective, the Boss that dropped the resurrection item, the Red-nosed Reindeer.
One could see the Boss's hideous face, as well as the cracking sound it made when it turned its head.
"Roar!" The Boss let out its roar toward the two of them.
"Let's go." A look of seriousness also flashed in Kaede's eyes. It was precisely because she was afraid that there would be danger in clearing the Boss alone that she had sought out Kirito.
"Okay!" Kirito also took a deep breath and said.
The next moment, Kirito charged toward the Boss.
However, even though it was Kirito who had moved first, it was Kaede who landed the first strike.
"Her speed has gotten faster again." Kirito couldn't help but exclaim.
The next moment, Kirito's one-handed sword also slashed at the Boss.
"Roar!!" The two consecutive strikes also caused the Boss to go berserk, and it began to swing its club toward the two of them, but its movements seemed a bit slow to them.
Kaede retreated a few steps at this moment, leaving the Boss to Kirito, and the sword in her hand began to glow.
"Ha!" Without needing to think, he understood Kaede's actions at this moment. Kirito also began to fully attract the Boss's attention, his one-handed sword clashing with the Boss's club, emitting a harsh sound.
It should be said that he is worthy of being Kirito; under his efforts, the Boss didn't even turn its head to look at Kaede once, frantically swinging its club there.
Calculating that the time was about right, Kirito let out a sigh of relief and directly retreated. He checked his HP, drank a red potion, looked at the flashing blade light over there, and also began to charge up his ultimate move.
The moment Kirito retreated, Kaede's ultimate move was already fully charged. The moment the Boss wanted to chase after and attack Kirito, the dazzling light fell directly onto the Boss's back.
The damage directly shifted all of the Boss's focus onto Kaede. It turned around and smashed down with its club.
Unlike Kirito, Kaede herself was still quite fragile, so unlike Kirito who could tank the Boss head-on, Kaede could only dodge.
However, Kaede herself was speed-oriented, and her attack speed was significantly faster than Kirito's.
For a while, Kaede was actually much more relaxed than Kirito. After all, the Boss's movements seemed a bit stiff; as could be seen from the cracking sound it made when it turned its neck at the beginning, it was definitely a Boss that didn't move around often.
Just like that, back and forth, Kirito and Kaede's ultimate moves constantly struck the Boss. Plus, the two of them were well-prepared, so the issue of running out of red potions simply didn't exist for them.
Although the two of them lacked synergy, they were able to coordinate well. As long as they saw the other's movements, they could understand the other's thoughts. If they added synergy to that, it might be even more terrifying.
Thus, the Boss's HP quickly turned red. Kirito was also a bit puzzled; this Boss fight was going a bit too smoothly.
However, the next moment, Kaede and Kirito simultaneously felt that something was wrong and both retreated a few steps.
One could see the Boss let out a huge roar toward the sky, and then a reindeer suddenly appeared beneath it.
"This is..." Both Kirito and Kaede's eyes constricted.
Then the two of them ran in two different directions simultaneously because the Boss had already charged directly at them, and its speed was truly terrifying.
Kirito finally understood why he always felt the Boss's movements were so stiff. It wasn't because it was weak, but rather... back then, it wasn't the complete Boss. The Boss riding the reindeer now was what could be considered a truly complete Boss, and its level of danger had directly increased by several notches.
Riding the reindeer, the Boss ran around, attacking the two of them from time to time, while the two of them could only dodge exhaustedly.
"Damn it!"
This won't work. Kaede's eyes were a bit dark. Looking at the charging Boss, she didn't want to continue dodging anymore. Watching the approaching Boss, Kaede's eyes were shining, as if she were observing something.
"You get ready to attack..."
Kirito, who was on the side, was stunned for a moment, but ultimately chose to trust Kaede, and once again prepared the strongest move he could use up to that point.
When the Boss charged toward Kaede again, Kaede suddenly moved, running toward the direction the Boss was tilting.
"Roar!" Seemingly provoked, the boss let out a furious roar and swung its club.
After rolling to dodge the club in the boss's hand, she stood up, her blade already glowing with light.
"Precision Strike!"
"It has to hit!!" Kaede's eyes were shining; whether she could stun it depended entirely on this hit.
Bang!! Finally, the boss froze there in a daze—it hit!
Kaede then began to prepare her strongest move.
Meanwhile, Kirito had finished his preparations and charged straight ahead. Even though the boss had regained consciousness, it was completely unable to resist, being forced back step by step by Kirito's attacks, roaring in helpless frustration.
As Kirito's final sword stroke fell, he shouted,
"Kaede, it's up to you!"
Having said that, Kirito retreated from the boss's side. The roaring boss didn't even realize that Kaede was right beneath it.
"Yeah, leave it to me." The light on Kaede's blade flickered so intensely that it enveloped her as well.
Looking at the boss that Kirito had forced right in front of her eyes, Kaede suddenly smiled and then slashed down.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, Kaede actually jumped onto the elk and began a wild, frenzied dance of blades against the boss.
Finally, as the light on her blade was about to fade, Kaede thrust her sword out fiercely, piercing straight through the boss's eye.
"Go to hell!"
Gulp. Watching this scene, cold sweat broke out on Kirito's forehead.
"This... she fights so aggressively." Kirito had to admit that Kaede's methods had startled him.
"Roar!!" The boss let out a final, agonizing roar before shattering into fragments and disappearing. Perhaps it felt quite aggrieved to have encountered two 'bugs.'
Amidst the shards of light, Kaede dropped to the ground.
At this moment, there was a smile on Kaede's face as she held a crystal-like object in her hand.
"Looks like it was real." Kirito nodded.
"Yeah, thank you," Kaede said.
"No need for thanks, it's what I promised."
"Let's go find the old man," Kaede suddenly suggested.
"Uh, no, no, I'll go by myself. You go back and give the gift to Asuna!" Cold sweat ran down Kirito's forehead. If he let Kaede go, the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance on the other side might actually be in mortal danger.
"Then... alright." Nodding, Kaede used the crystal to teleport back to town.
Watching Kaede disappear, Kirito shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the pitch-black night sky.
He hoped the two of them could live a good life.
...
"Where did you go?" As soon as Kaede returned home, Asuna rushed over. Looking at Kaede, Asuna felt a bit unaccustomed to not seeing Kaede by her side lately.
"Uh, well, I went to prepare a gift for Sister." Kaede scratched her head.
"A gift?" Asuna was taken aback.
"Mhm!" Kaede nodded and pulled out the Resurrection Crystal.
"This is!" Taking the crystal and seeing its effect, Asuna's eyes widened, and then she hugged Kaede. "You're being too reckless!! What if something happened to you!"
"It's fine, I asked Kirito to come with me."
"Even so, you're not allowed to take risks!!" Asuna felt a bit of lingering fear—what if Kaede hadn't come back?
"Okay!"
"But with this, we shouldn't have to be so nervous when clearing bosses. Though, it's still better if we don't have to use it," Asuna said.
"..."
"Xiao Kaede?" Asuna looked at Kaede, who was silent in her arms, feeling a bit strange.
"Yeah, you're right, Sister." Kaede pulled away from Asuna's embrace and said with a slightly forced smile on her face.
"Mhm, I'm going to cook now. Wait here, Xiao Kaede; today I'll make your favorite dish." After saying that, Asuna walked into the kitchen.
Kaede watched Asuna enter the kitchen, and her smile vanished, replaced by a dim expression. She sat in a chair, her whole body slumping there.
"Sister, why are you still thinking about clearing bosses? Can't you pay a little more attention to me, Sister..."
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