Chapter 73 – Sword Art Online (41)
“Ha!”
The blond man struck down the sword in his right hand with a roaring spirit.
The purple-haired woman received it with a saber.
Kaaang!!
A clear metallic sound resonated and a light source effect occurred, illuminating the deep forest for an instant.
It was hard to think of the movement of the whole body or the lively expression as a soulless avatar controlled by the system.
However, Seojun knew.
Even though those two are NPCs created by the system, they are no longer ordinary NPCs at the point where Hunter’s ‘supernatural ability’ enters.
‘He had a hard time.’
Seo-joon remembered Kim Seo-eun.
She was also quite well versed in AI technology.
To the extent that they battle with androids controlled by artificial intelligence within the gate.
That’s why I thought it was perfect.
So, thanks to her ability, this Sword Art Online was upgraded several steps from the original.
“The male side is ‘Forest Elf’, and the female side is ‘Dark Elf’.”
A golden 【!】 Mark floated above their heads.
That’s the proof that it’s the NPC that started the quest. If it hadn’t been for that, it would have been really hard to tell it apart from a human because it looked completely human, and its movements and speech surpassed that of ordinary AI.
“What? Do you both have quest marks?”
“Simple. You can only receive one quest.”
“Only one side?”
Kirito answered Asuna’s murmur.
Seojun nodded her head and added an explanation.
“The quests those people give are not one-off, nor are they a series of quests that have been done several times. The first big campaign quest. It lasted for a long time over several floors, and it ended on the ninth floor.”
“Nine floors.”
Asuna and the other girls’ eyes widened.
Well, I can’t help it.
It was because while he was going through this quest with Kirito and Yuuki, they both enjoyed playing separately. It was only natural that during the beta period, they mainly enjoyed traveling and resting rather than fighting in this world that was no different from reality.
‘Still, the battle itself was fought quite often.’
Even if it’s for travel and relaxation.
Due to the nature of this world, battles were indispensable, so I went through quite a few. Maybe that’s why, or maybe it was because of the talent, the beta testers became so strong that they couldn’t even give out their business cards.
Thanks to you, I was able to afford it.
Anyway, Seojun continued to explain.
“Even if you make a mistake in the middle of this quest, you will not receive it again. Of course, it is impossible to change to a confrontational route. I have no choice but to keep running down the road I chose here to the ninth floor.”
“… Ah. That would be pretty difficult.”
“So what.”
“By the way, the confrontation route? I guess that means…”
“In other words, you have to save one side and fight the other side. Which one do you guys like? I am black.”
Seojun said calmly.
Then, Asuna clearly looked at his face.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“… Jun army. You can’t choose that NPC because it’s a woman, right?”
“… No. During the beta, I only wanted to help the forest elves and choose the dark elves this time. Yes?”
“… Uh? Ah yes! Jun is right!”
“Asuna-nee, it’s just as Jun-oppa said!”
Seojun noticed.
Kirito and Yuuki nodded in response to his words. Of course, contrary to what he said, the three of them chose the dark side even during the beta.
Forest Elves were unlucky, so it was a unanimous decision.
“Huh.”
Asuna narrowed her eyes.
Leafa looked at Kirito as if she was pitiful, and Aiko smiled bitterly at her.
It was because they already remembered hearing from their sisters that they had chosen the side of the dark elves.
And Sinon, who has a good sense of humor, also smiled when she realized that that reaction was a lie. She was the only one, Yuna, watching it with a bright smile.
How much time has passed
Tens of seconds passed, and Asuna let out a sigh.
“Well, I’ll trust you especially this time. Because I don’t want to take the side of a man and cut a woman.”
She continued, drawing her three swords.
“Then we can join the Dark Elves and defeat the Forest Elves, right? Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait for a sec. I will take the lead here.”
“Huh? Is it really necessary?”
Seojun nodded her head at her question.
“I don’t know, but you guys can’t win against forest elves.”
“Eh. What are you talking about?”
“As you can tell by looking at that shiny equipment, the white side 《Forest Elven Hallowed Knight》 and the black side 《Dark Elven Royal Guard》 are elite class mobs that appear only after reaching the 7th floor. It’s this No matter how much you set the safety line, you guys who have just arrived on the 3rd floor are not opponents to beat.”
“… Ah.”
The girls nodded as if they understood.
Especially during the beta, Kirito and Yuuki, who had been sloppy and suffered greatly, showed expressions of sympathy.
“Well, then what do you do? When we die…”
“Don’t worry because I have you.”
“Ah… !”
Asuna, who had been muttering, widened her eyes at Seojun’s words.
Then, she looked straight at Seo-joon in front of her eyes. Seeing his face, the fear she had just felt was quickly over.
“Besides, even if I lose, I never go that far. When our HP is reduced by half, the one who received the help uses a trump card to defeat it. All we have to do is not panic and focus on defense. Even so, it takes a lot of HP, but you just have to calmly wait for the Dark Elf sister to help you. Of course I won’t.”
Seojun grinned.
‘I can never do that.’
Our dark elf sister.
Named Kiz Mel, she used a forbidden skill to save the player from being overpowered by the Forest Elf Knight, and at the same time she lost her own life as well as the enemy.
Even if you take the opposite route, the result is the same.
Either way, the two elves will die here, and they will be involved in a war between the two races, and a long, long story will begin.
However, Seojun had no such intention.
‘I can’t let such a bad character die.’
I experienced it once during the beta, but now it’s different.
He intended to kill the Forest Elves before Kismel could cast Donggwijin.
‘Because there is actually such a route.’
Of course, such a route existed in the data that was opened after obtaining the master key.
This is because the psychopath Kayaba, who wants to create another reality, has also faithfully implemented this.
He patted Asuna on the shoulder as if comforting her, then turned around.
“Then I’ll be there first, so follow me slowly.”
After saying that, Seo-joon kicked off the seat and ran out.
Seeing Seo-joon suddenly jump out, the elves simultaneously jumped backwards to widen the distance. At the same time, the [!] Mark floating above the heads of the two changed to a [?] Mark indicating that the quest was in progress.
“What are the humans doing in this forest!”
“Do not disturb! Leave right now!”
The forest elf man and the dark elf sister said respectively.
Of course, you can leave as you are told, but there is no point in doing so. Seo-joon didn’t stop running and took out the curved sword and swung it at the forest elf.
The handsome face of an elf changed into a stern face.
The yellow color cursor of the event mob blinked with a red border warning that it had changed to a hostile situation.
“What are you doing?”
“What are you doing? It was an attack on you.”
“Stupid things… Join the dark elves and disappear with the dew of my sword.”
“Um, I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on my hair.”
Upon hearing that, the Forest Elf’s cursor changed color.
From pale yellow to dingy dark crimson.
“Good night. Then I’ll get rid of you guys first, human.”
“Yes, come on.”
As he provoked, the Forest Elves charged.
Certainly, it was an agile movement befitting an elite mob appearing on high floors. However, even so, it is only at the level of elite mobs.
‘Elite mobs are roughly 3 to 5 times stronger than normal miscellaneous mobs.’
And the boss mobs were much stronger than those elite mobs.
In other words, Asterios, who fought on the second floor, was a much stronger opponent than the elf in front of him.
To Seo-jun, who was playing with such a guy, the elf in front of him was just a little hard punching bag.
Seo-joon avoided the guy’s attack and activated his sword skill. He scattered the red light effect and the curved sword rushed towards the Forest Elf.
***
Five minutes passed like that.
“This… Unbelievable…”
The forest elf collapsed after leaving such a word.
The guy’s HP gauge had reached 0. And Kirito and Yuuki, who were watching the scene, also opened their mouths.
“So quickly… ?”
“Nonsense…”
The two of them had fought Forest Elves in the beta, so they knew the current situation made no sense. Because those two attacked during the beta and were sunk in 2 minutes.
“It’s easy.”
Good.
Putting the sword he drew back on his waist, Seo-jun turned his head.
There was a dark elf holding a black saber in one hand and silently looking down at the enemy’s corpse.
The Dark Elf’s eyes, which had been looking at the corpse for a while, moved.
She looked straight at Seo-joon. Surprise and bewilderment were evident in her onyx-like eyes.
