In the afterglow of the setting sun, the sapphire-like sky of the inner world is like a pure gem, and the aged wine reveals a crimson scene that makes people unconsciously indulge and intoxicated.

The only building, on the grassland around the teleportation altar, looks like a war has just taken place.

On that meadow, which can no longer be called a meadow, countless sword marks, feather arrows, coke, ice blocks, cannon craters, and other traces of battle, covering almost all corners. Almost all of the possible methods of attack in a conventional war can be found here.

On the desolate battlefield, hundreds and thousands of puppet wreckage were piled up. After being either covered by swords, impaled by feathered arrows, destroyed by magic, or even flattened by a huge force, these golems completely lost the possibility of standing up again before returning to the furnace.

In the center of the battlefield, where the remains of the puppets were most densely populated, Lilian, who drew her bow and arrows, and Ellie, who held a sword and shield, stood back to back. Stepping on a defensive barrier, surrounded by alchemical rapid-fire cannons, the remains of destroyed golems around them filled almost every gap.

The two of them who were gasping for breath were already pale, and the whole person seemed to have just been fished out of the water, and the clothes they were wearing, no, it should be said that they were strips of cloth, were all soaked in sweat~ wet. And the body, which was almost impossible to hide, was full of all kinds of scars. If it weren't for the fact that both of them could heal spells, even if they didn't get hit and take heavy hits, the bleeding damage alone would be enough for the other two to die.

But after such a long period of fighting, the momentum of the two seems to be blended together, suppressing the place where they are, and any existing invasion must pay a sufficient price.

And in front of and behind Xuefeng, there was no trace of battle, not even a scratch. In front of you and behind you, it's like two worlds, one step forward is hell on earth, and one step back is paradise.

"Bang" Yukifeng clapped her hands and said to Lilian and Ellie, "That's all for today's mission. ”

With Xue Feng's words, the ten alchemy arrays behind him silently shattered into countless tiny points of light and disappeared into mid-air.

After hearing Xuefeng's words, Lilian and Ellie's attention became more focused, after all, the people in Xuefeng Pit are not once or twice. It wasn't until all the alchemy arrays had dissipated that the two of them completely relaxed. Back-to-back collapsed on the ground, bows, arrows, swords, shields, and other weapons were all discarded on the ground, and the defensive enchantment and re-refined fixed rapid-fire cannon also turned into a thing of the past in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the two people who were slumped on the ground, while letting the two of them recover their lost physical strength and spirit as much as possible, Xuefeng concluded: "Good job. When you realize that the enemy will increase, block the enemy's reinforcements as soon as possible. When it was confirmed that it could not be blocked, the formation was selected. ”

"Consciousness and combat power have almost reached the peak of the current stage, but the ability to continue the war is far from enough. So, next, get ready for devil training. ”

When the two of them could support each other and walk, Yukikaze took the lead and walked towards the teleportation altar

"Almost, it's time to ring the bell."

――――Finally return to the original plot! ――――

"No matter how many times you watch it, it's hard to believe that this is actually in the game." Somewhere on the edge of the meadow, Klein sat on the ground, looking up at the magnificent beauty of the half-dusk, half-night sky, and couldn't help but exclaim, "What a genius the guy who made it." It's amazing, it's great to be born in this era. ”

"That's an exaggeration." Kirito, who was standing on the side, said with a smile.

"Because it's the first time I've been completely stealthy." Klein retorted. In this regard, Kirito asked Klein curiously, "Then is it the first time you have played a game for NERvGear?" ”

"It's better to say that I bought the hardware in a hurry to play SwordArt Online." Klein sighed to himself and laughed, "I'm really lucky to get the first 10,000 copies of the shipment." ”

"However, you are ten times luckier than me to be selected as a closed beta player, which is limited to 1,000 people."

"Sort of." Kirito touched his head and said modestly.

"Now, where did you go during the closed beta?" Klein was curious, and Kirito replied, "I only went to the eighth floor in two months. ”

"But this time it will only take a month." Kirito said confidently.

"You're addicted." Klein's evaluation of this, Kirito did not refute. Because probably in his heart, he is indeed addicted.

"To be honest, during the closed beta, whether I was sleeping or waking up, I had SAO in my head." Kirito pulled out ~ the sword on his back, "In this world, you can walk the world with it." ”

"Although it is only an imaginary space, it feels more alive than the real world."

This is probably the exclamation that all martial artists living in this world will make.

"So, do you want to keep fighting monsters for a while?" Kirito withdrew his sword and invited to Klein.

"Of course...... That's what I mean. Holding his stomach, which had begun to growl, Klein said helplessly, "But I'm hungry, go offline." ”

"The food here only eliminates the feeling of an empty stomach." Kirito shook his head and said, then saw Klein give him a thumbs up, "I've already ordered a hot pizza at five o'clock!" ”

"You're so thoughtful......

"That's it, I'll go online after eating." Klein smiled and said, "Now, I'm going to meet up with acquaintances from other games later, how about adding them as friends?" ”

"Of course not." Seeing Kirito's expression of resistance, Klein waved his hand to indicate that he didn't have any ideas, "I'll have a chance to introduce it in the future." ”

"Yes, I'm sorry, thank you." Kirito looked away embarrassedly.

"Hey, that's what I'm going to say." Klein slapped Kirito on the body, "I'll return the favor in the future, mentally." ”

"Thank you very much, then. Thank you for your advice in the future. ”

Klein stretched out his right hand, and Kirito shook hands and said, "If there is anything else you want to ask in the future, feel free to call me." ”

"Yes, please!"

Turning around, Klein opened his menu, and Kirito looked away. But Klein's puzzled voice suddenly came from behind him: "Hey, no logout button?" ”

A shadow flashed in Kirito's heart, and he said to Klein, "Take a closer look. ”

"Sure enough, no." Klein looked at his kitchen knife several times, and even clicked all the sub-items, but still didn't find the logout button.

"At the bottom of the main menu...... Kirito also opened his menu, looking for the logout button that seemed to be hidden. But in the original logout button, there was only a blank space left: "Well, there is no ......"

"After all, today is the first day of the launch, so it's not surprising that there are such bugs. The operators are already on the verge of crying. Klein remains optimistic, but Kirito can't remove the shadow from his heart.

The logout button disappears? Is this really a bug that occurs in normal games? Can operators really make this near-impossible mistake?

However, skepticism is always skepticism, and this question will always be answered.

"So are you." Kirito pointed to the clock on the menu interface and said, "It's 17:25." ”

"Honda~Master's teriyaki mayonnaise pizza and ginger ale!!"

"Call the administrator." Kirito looked helplessly at Klein, who was holding his head and roaring.

"I tried it earlier, but it didn't happen." After Klein came back to his senses, he frowned and looked at the call interface on his menu, "Is there no other way to log out?" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Kirito said uneasily, "No." Players can only log out by manipulating the menu. ”

"How is this possible, there will definitely be!" Klein began experimenting with all possible ways to log out, even though it seemed like a secondary two.

"Go back!" Combat-ready posture.

"Log out!" Hero appearance pose.

"Breakaway!" Victory cheer pose.

…… In the cold field......

"I said no." As the shadow in Kiriri's heart widened, the sunset was obscured by the clouds, and the sky finally began to darken, "There is no emergency method in the manual. ”

"Hey, it's fake." Klein said incredulously. And then, at last, I started to be stupid, no, more accurately, all the time......

With his hands at the sides of his head, Klein fantasized about removing a non-existent helmet, "By the way, just remove the NERvGear from the head." ”

"I can't do it." Kirito pulls Klein back from the fantasy world back to the real world, "We can't move our bodies in reality right now. ”

"NERvGear isolates all the commands from the brain to the body here." Kirito pointed to his neck.

"Really...... Is that really just waiting for the bug to be fixed? ”

"Or maybe someone in the real world takes NERvGear off our heads." While the two were in a restless conversation, a wild boar passed by carefree. Well, a monster without intelligence won't understand this conversation anyway.

"But I live alone." Klein uttered a sad truth, "What about you? ”

"And mom and sister. So when you eat dinner, you should be able to notice ......" and then Klein firmly grabbed his shoulder~ "How old is Kirito's sister?" ”

“…… That guy is from the sports club and hates games the most. I don't have anything to do with people like us......"

Yes, he has top-notch hacking skills, but Naoba really doesn't like computer games, because it's too easy to make a plug-in or something......

"Don't say that......"

Krain fell into a state of obsession and launched a hot pursuit skill against Kirito!

Kirito was caught~ and used a flirtatious leg attack on Klein!

Klein was hit to the point!

"Wow, it hurts!"

Klein is in a state of phantom pain, and the skill release fails!

Kirito is out of the state of being caught!

"Ah, it doesn't hurt......"

Klein is relieved of the Phantom Pain, and the battle ends.

"Don't you think it's strange compared to that?" In response to Kirito's question, Klein could only answer helplessly: "Strange is strange, but after all, it's a bug." ”

"It's not just a bug." Kirito's uneasiness can no longer be hidden, "I can't log out, this is a big problem related to the future operation of the game!" ”

"It's ...... too"

"In this case, just shut down the server and force all players to log out." Kirito looked at the end of the world and tried to explain the problem, "but he didn't even make an announcement......

At this moment, even Klein, who has always behaved like an optimistic fool, couldn't help but be gloomy.

At this moment, the sudden ringing of the bell spread throughout the entire first floor. The bell is accompanied by a forced teleportation for all players.

"The bell has been ringing, and now announce to everyone the true ~ face of this world."

"The war for survival has begun!"