- It's been two hours since I entered the cave. Although they encountered more than a dozen half-orc attacks on the way, they all passed the level easily, and the map they had bought in Si Yiluban before also allowed them to move towards their destination smoothly without getting lost.

According to the map, you will reach a bridge over an underground lake, and after crossing the bridge, you will reach the underground mining city of Luguru.

Luguru is not a huge underground fortress like the Earth Elf Capital, but due to the excellent ore produced here, there are many merchants and blacksmiths living here, but so far they have not met any other players.

In addition to the fact that this cave is not a training ground where many monsters will appear, many people do not like to come to this place where they can't fly for the wind elves who have an advantage in flying.

Although the width and height of the cavern were sufficient, the wings could not be restored because the sunlight and moonlight, which were the source of flying power, could not reach it.

Wind Elf players who want to go to Arun for sightseeing or business, even if they spend a lot of time, will usually pass through the Cat Demon Territory in the north of the Wind Elf Territory to bypass this mountain range.

Cat demons are a race with the same ears and tails as cats, and they are good at [animal tamer] skills that can tame monsters or animals, and they have often provided wind elves with their tamed animals as mounts, so they have always had a fairly good relationship with wind elves. In addition, there is a deep friendship between the two lords, and there are even rumors that the two races are about to form a formal alliance recently.

Since Lifa also has several familiar cat demon friends, she also considered taking a detour to the northern path when she was about to leave for Arun this time.

But because Kirito looked very anxious, she chose to cross the mountain range in the end.

Going underground honestly makes her uneasy, but it looks like she should be able to get through this level safely.

- But then again, why are Kiritoro and Clyde so anxious to think of Arune, or should I say the World Tree?

Her reasons are still a mystery, and her unusual attitude makes it impossible to get a glimpse of his inner world, but judging by the appearance of the battle, he must be quite anxious.

And Clyde's reaction, he seems to avoid talking about it, but he vaguely wants to reveal it to himself, which is really incomprehensible.

In fact, it's not uncommon to look for people in the real world who can't be contacted in the real world.

The missing person notice column on the bulletin board in front of the grocery store often has the message "I'm looking for someone".

But the reason is usually not revenge or love disputes, but I always feel that neither of these reasons looks like something that will happen to Kirito.

And—it would be understandable if she was looking for someone in Arun, but she actually said she was going to the World Tree. It has been an inviolable territory so far, and even if it can reach the roots, it is impossible to climb to it......

Walking beside Kirito, Lifa temporarily immersed herself in rambling thoughts.

Normally, being in a daze in the neutral zone is simply suicidal, but with Clyde and Kirito, two players who have developed super instincts in SAO, it can be said that there is almost no such thing as being attacked.

After a few more minutes, when they finally approached the sublake, it wasn't the two of them warning about the attack that brought Lifa's consciousness back to reality, but the sound effect of a phone ringing like a beep.

Lifa instantly raised her head and said to the two of them:

"Ah, I've got an email coming in. Sorry to wait for me. ”

"Uh-huh. ”

She stopped, and touched her finger to the image in front of her body, probably a little lower than her chest.

In an instant, the window opened, and the message of the friend who had been sent to me was displayed on it.

In fact, Lifa landed as a friend, although he didn't want to, but Reagan was the only one, so he knew who sent it before he even read the message. She thought to herself that it must be something that was not nutritious anyway, and looked down. But—

[As I expected!Be careful!]

That's all it says in the message.

"What is this?"

Lifa couldn't help but grumble. I don't know what it means to write like this. What he expected, what to pay attention to, and what exactly the "s" at the end meant. If it's a signature, it's R, or is it just that he pressed to send the message before he finished writing?

“s…… sa…… shi…… su…… Hmmm......"

"What's wrong?"

Just as Lifa was about to explain the contents to Kirito, who had a surprised expression on his face......

"Kirito, Lifa, it looks like someone is coming!" Clyde suddenly reminded.

"Man, you're sure you're not a monster. Kirito put his hand on the hilt of the greatsword behind his back.

"It's a pity, it's supposed to be the players, and there are probably a dozen of them. Clyde sighed.

"...... a dozen people?"

Lifa was speechless in astonishment.

That's too much for a normal combat unit. Could it be the Wind Elf trade group that set out from Si Yiluban to go to Luguru or Arune?

Indeed, once a month, the Wind Elves organize a large contingent of people who travel between the realm and the center.

However, as is customary, it is customary to advertise a few days before departure to recruit participants, and when I looked at the bulletin board this morning, I didn't see such a message.

But even if it's a group of unknown origins, as long as the other party is a wind elf, there will be no danger.

Although she didn't think that there would be an interracial PK group in such a place, Lifa, who always had an ominous premonition in her heart, turned to the two and said, "I have a bad premonition. I think it's better to get out of the way. ”

"But...... Where are you going to hide......" Kirito looked around suspiciously.

This long one-way street, while quite spacious, has no other divergent path to hide in.

"Is there any hidden magic?" Clyde asked, frowning.

"Well, yes, I'll leave it to me. ”

With a confident smile on her face, Lifa grabbed Kirito and Clyde's arms, then pulled them into a nearby depression, then raised her left hand and began chanting a spell.

Immediately, a shimmering green glow of air rolled up from under the feet, enveloping the bodies of the three men. Although their sight has only turned pale green, they should not be visible to the people outside at all.

Lifa looked up at Clyde and Kirito beside her, and whispered:

"Keep your voice as low as possible. If it's too loud, the magic will unravel. ”

"Understood. This magic is so handy. Kirito stared at the film of the wind with wide eyes.

"The other party is estimated to be coming soon, don't let your guard down. Clyde reminded.

The three of them shrank their heads and leaned their bodies against the rock wall as much as they could.

After a few tense seconds, suddenly the sound of tiny footsteps reached Lifa's ears.

It felt like there was a heavy metallic sound mixed in with the sound, and when she felt strange in her heart—

Kirito suddenly craned his neck to look in the direction that the unknown group was approaching.

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