——On the 22nd floor of "Aincrad", on the north bank of "Golar" village.
On the road to the maze forest, there are dozens of players running wildly in a certain direction. If you observe carefully, you will find that they are all players wearing various union uniforms and equipped with rare equipment from the lower level.
"Miss Argo, is this the direction?"
At the front of the team, Suguha, who had transitioned from a single swordsman to a swordsman, anxiously asked the mouse merchant who was following him and checking the map.
They had been preparing for the birthday party since the morning. They never imagined that what they were waiting for in the end was not the return of Yuuki, but the news that she had been ambushed below.
Ignoring the carefully prepared gifts, everyone hurried through the portal towards the twenty-second floor.
The members of the strategy team who happened to be invited to the party at the time spontaneously formed a team and launched a rescue operation together with the girls of "Arcadia".
"Well, this is the direction! Ah, that's enough. I've almost become your guild's special intelligence agent."
"I have obviously warned her that the information spread this time is very abnormal!"
Argo scratched his hair in distress, and Argo complained in annoyance.
Because the source of the intelligence this time appeared so 'coincidentally', her instinct as an intelligence dealer told her that there was something unusual in it.
She originally wanted to investigate carefully before telling Yuuki, but she didn't expect her to be so impatient. By the time she found out that the source of the information was an orange player, and there was something strange happening in the orange guild, the girl had already entered.
The twenty-second floor of the maze forest.
Now I just hope it’s still too late!
"Yuuki...will be okay..."
"Silica!"
"Well--!"
Silica, who was also worried about Yuuki, whispered something that everyone had been avoiding, prompting Lisbeth to remind her.
Everyone's mood is the same, but the one who is most concerned and uneasy must be Lan Zi who has been suppressing his feelings.
Lanzi has been silent since entering the twenty-second floor.
"...It's okay. Xiaoyou will be fine."
As if feeling the attention of everyone, the pale girl with long hair shook her head, and instead comforted Silica and the others.
"blue……"
Seeing Lanzi forcing herself like this, Asuna couldn't bear to say something, but she didn't know how to say it.
"Just like Miss Lan said, 'Yu'... Yuuki will not be defeated so easily."
"——!"
To everyone's surprise, the one who spoke this time was the black-haired swordsman running on the right, Suguha's brother Kirito.
"...The team leader once commented that in terms of PK skills alone, the entire strategy team should not be able to find anyone better than her."
"So I believe she will be able to hold on until rescue arrives!"
In order to reassure everyone, Kirito also deliberately revealed the news that only he knew.
"..."
"That Mr. Heathcliff..."
Hearing this name, Asuna and the others quietly exclaimed.
Seeing that the expressions of the girls had improved, Kirito recalled a conversation with Heathcliff that the strongest man had said about Yuuki.
[‘If I didn’t use the [Holy Sword], maybe I wouldn’t be my opponent.’]
[‘Her sword has surpassed the limit that human consciousness can imagine.’]
Kirito still can't understand that last sentence.
But soon, he understood why Heathcliff said that.
"Everyone! The maze area is ahead! Speed up!"
"Whoa whoa--!!!"
Following Argo's words, the players, whose speed and momentum increased, rushed into the coniferous forest in front of them.
Deep in the maze area, where the "Smiling Coffin" launched its ambush.
"Why! Why is the gap so big!"
Kibaou, who sat down on the ground and kept kicking his legs back, could not accept the reality in front of him, and shouted in a somewhat insane state.
"Even if you are a player in the strategy group! Even if your level is much higher than ours! This shouldn't be the result!!!"
In this 'game', if the player character's level is very high, it will indeed crush lower-level players.
But Kibaou can be sure that the people in his guild have never opened a gap of more than twenty levels with the members of the strategy team. So why is this happening?
Ignoring the man's roar, the girl whose hair was completely dyed golden slowly approached him.
"What kind of 'skill' is this?!"
Hitting the tree behind him, Kibaou waved his hands in despair with no way out.
Is this state where the hair changes color also a skill?
What happened just now? Was it five minutes?
Aren’t there more than thirty people coming? Where are the people?
Countless questions filled his mind.
However, except for the fragments of weapons on the ground, which told that a battle had taken place here, there was no one left.
"Don't!! Stop it!! I know I'm wrong!! Don't do it!! I will go to jail and surrender!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
The flickering sword light kept stimulating his nerves.
"...If you apologize, please leave it to the players you killed."
"In another world."
Showing a 'farewell smile', Kibaou watched in disbelief as his health bar returned to zero and turned into flying fragments.
"call……"
"Then what happens next..."
Yuuki waved the sword and kept holding the sword with one hand, turning around and looking at the forest that had been shrouded in mist for some time.
--clang!
Moving his steps lightly, he raised the sword above his head to block the sudden attack of the huge kitchen knife-shaped weapon.
"...Seeing the battle just now, I thought you ran away."
“Leaders of ‘Smiling Coffin’.”
Under the hood, the man named PoH finally lost his calm expression.
The battle just ended too quickly. Facing Yuuki whose hair color had changed, his men were killed as easily as if they had encountered the boss on the upper floor.
They had the same questions as Kibaou.
But after all, they were also the most well-informed orange players, so they quickly came to their own conclusions.
"Strength, speed, defense, reaction... your various values should have increased geometrically in that state, right?"
PoH, who had failed to hit him, stepped back and said while holding the weapon named "Friend-Zhan Pao-Ding".
"Like that man, this is your "unique skill"!"
PoH, who continued to express his "opinion" and thought he had seen through everything, aimed his weapon at Yuuki.
"But anyone who has played games knows that explosive skills like this will never last!"
"And your hair color that has faded back to its original color is the best proof!!"
That's why they didn't run away.
Looking at the black-haired girl who had turned into a 'prey' again, PoH proudly issued an order to his only two remaining cadres.
"It's hunting time, Shasa! Johnny!"
"Hmm!"
"Hey!"
Behind Yuuki, red-eyed rapier users and hooded men wielding daggers flew from above, one on the left and the other on the right.
Directly in front, PoH, who was holding a huge kitchen knife weapon, also rushed over, trying to form a three-sided attack with no way to retreat.
"...?"
It's just that the two people behind may not have seen it, but PoH, who attacked from the front, definitely saw it right.
The raised corners of the girl's mouth that stood quietly were the expression PoH himself often made towards his prey.
When he was about to attack together, from the mocking smile, it seemed that the name of a certain skill was quietly passed into his ears.