Akanali thought, although the teaching director had previously warned that Kureia might be targeted by other magicians and asked her and Fuyutsuki Mihoko to help protect her, it seemed normal, but——
After all, Fuyutsuki Mihoko is also a magical girl who is a magician. As her name is justified, it seems very reasonable to ask Crurea to replenish her magic on the grounds that she has been depleted by helping Crurea practice.
She sent another message telling Kurea and Fuyuzuki Mihoko to be more serious.
Afterwards, they were put down on the third floor and waved goodbye to everyone.
……………………………………………………
Then, the three girls who had little contact with each other formed a temporary team, and after carrying out necessary supplies in the town closest to the labyrinth area, they plunged into the Pillar Tower on the third floor of Aincrad.
Follow the path you took before and fight your way to the floor boss room.
"Argo, did you choose this team with high speed, high technology, high output, and easy retreat because you wanted to spy on the boss?" Akanali asked.
"Indeed, this can be considered a reason." Argo paused and said, "But the information about this boss has been collected by Kirito and his team during the 'Elf War' stage mission. The only question left is the specific parameters. Now
The situation has changed. Now that we know that the floor boss also has his own 'ecology', and that he passed the floor abnormally due to previous missions, we have to reconfirm. Go ahead."
Argo pushed open the door to the boss's room, but it was still empty.
A few people crept inside like thieves, but they didn't see the demon tree spirit Nerius appear from anywhere.
Argo came to the door leading to the upper floor and pushed it, but there was no response.
"Hmm, it really doesn't work, doesn't it?"
She looked thoughtfully at a place that neither Yuki nor Akanali had noticed - where there was a treasure chest, but it was already empty.
"What's next?" Akanali asked.
Argo looked at the system map and there was a huge black area, and said: "Considering the possibility of the boss wandering out, it is more necessary than before to light up the map completely. After updating the intelligence on the boss,
Before making complete preparations, it is also important to confirm its possible movement trajectory and area, and explore the map."
When they left the boss room, Yuuki asked: "Hey Duo, can you ask me a question about something else? About the players."
Argo: "What if it's not personal privacy or paid information?"
Yuuki: "I read the news before entering SAO and learned that the number of people trapped was 200,000, but the Raiders Group I know seems to have less than 100 people, and most of them are people from our motherland. Why?"
Argo: "Most of the players in different servers don't understand each other. People from different countries don't trust each other, which makes intelligence sharing difficult. On the other hand, the existence of military players reassures most people to protect their own safety and wait for the outside world."
Rescue. By the way, I don’t need to emphasize that Neon doesn’t have an army, right?”
Akanali: "Indeed, this is what normal people think. I heard Yuki and you said that there was an experimental rescue, but it has not been successful so far."
Yuuki: "Yes. Then, what if the only condition for rescue is to clear the level, and the tasks to clear the level include tasks that can only be completed by the cooperation of players from all countries?"
Argo: "Then there is no hope of clearing this game. Let's live here for the rest of our lives - I will find new clearance conditions, but I must be prepared for this."
Akanali: "...No, there's no need to say it so absolutely, right? It's true that we don't understand the language, and we rarely communicate with them. Are they all the same as we saw in the maze area before?"
Argo took off his hood to reveal his yellowed hair, and said: "This hair is not dyed. I have foreign blood and have foreign friends, so I still have some channels for obtaining intelligence from other servers. The Donghuang server is okay, we have
If you go to the European and American servers with your true appearance, you will really get yelled at and beaten up. It’s quite embarrassing if one person in a hundred people has such an idea.”
Yuuki and Akanali were speechless for a moment, feeling as if Argo's little body had endured a lot of vicissitudes of life.
"The problem doesn't stop there." Argo continued, "Although the history the shopkeeper told us is the background setting of Sao, and it is not inappropriate from the perspective of fantasy games, but is everything she said true?"
"Does Argo mean that she is lying to us? But her relationship with the Great Sage..."
"If there is really no problem, entering the dark fairy realm will not require the dark fairy mission that Kirito took over in advance, and the great sage will not set up the secret room mechanism that she needs to leave to us to solve. It is just "Introduction to Magic" level
It seems far-fetched that the book and the hourglass that seem to be able to assist [meditation] practice require a special trip to the Great Sage. Since even the complex structure of the hotel can be easily conjured using magic, it should be easy to synthesize those props." Argo said.
.
"The biggest information revealed in this mission is just the identity of the shop owner. She does belong to the top of this world. The current plot is not against the players and the NPCs who hire the players. These are just three points." She added.
"In other words, the great sage may have been brainwashed into a companion the moment she entered? In fact, there is a shop owner who is the final boss no matter how you look at it. He is not misunderstood, but the real final boss. After discovering that our players came to this world
, intending to take advantage of our ignorance of this world and give us some sweeteners to drive us to achieve ulterior purposes?" Akanali continued thinking quickly.
"Wow, Akanali has such a rich imagination." Yuuki exclaimed.
"Aha." Akanali rubbed her ponytail. After all, as a magical girl in reality, she had to tamper with the memories of witnesses. She easily thought of the brainwashing plot and connected it with the royal reversal mode of some works.
Just thought of it.
"Indeed, this is also a possibility. For this reason, it is not surprising that a large-scale battle that gathers a large number of players at the end of the mission will lead to a losing battle." Argo said.
"But if it is a losing battle plot in the game, it will give us a chance to defeat the opponent in the end, right? Otherwise, the balance will be broken."
"But now, SAO seems to have lowered the balance in order to make the script closer to reality. If you want to pursue an RPG with a plot, it's okay. Players who go to the wrong branch can be resurrected after death. If it's a stand-alone game, you can also load files, but we
You only live once here." Argo warned.
"Then, what should we do?" Yuuki asked hurriedly, "This guess is not necessarily true, and we can't ask directly, right?"
"In short, since there is magic, let's learn it as much as possible. With this excuse, try not to do tasks that will advance the story of the shop owner."