Kirito's younger sister in reality is learning kendo.

After entering the modern era, the kendo of this country has gradually evolved into a more performative and spectator sport. But in any case, some principles from battlefield fighting still exist.

If you swing your sword fast enough, you will naturally have an advantage in the game. Kirito's younger sister is also training to improve her sword-swinging speed. Kirito, who has watched various kendo competitions because of his sister, has also seen all kinds of fast swords.

But Kirito was sure that the sword he saw in front of him was the fastest sword he had ever seen.

The trail of the tip of the thin sword with a metallic luster slashed through the air like a meteor.

At an extremely close distance, the other party flashed the shoddy hand axe in the hand of the level 6 humanoid monster "Ruined Kobold Assault", and that thrilling appearance made Kirito who was watching from the side feel a thorn on his back. After dodging three attacks in a row, the kobold's body will lose its balance, and the opponent will not miss this opportunity to output all his strength against the monster.

Rapier's skill is the first single-shot stabbing sword technique "Linear Attack" learned by Rapier weapons. Although it is a simple basic technique of placing the sword in the center of the body and spinning it to stab straight forward, the speed is amazing. Obviously, this is not a move that can be done with the help of the system alone, and the player himself is also very skillful.

Even though he had seen the team members and monsters perform the same sword skills during the closed beta in the past, Kirito's eyes still couldn't see the blade of the thin sword, and could only capture the trajectory drawn by the light effect unique to the sword technique. In the faint labyrinth of lack of light, this pure white light that pierced the space in front of him reminded him of a meteor.

After repeating the fixed attack and defense of dodging three kobold axe attacks three times in a row → counterattacking with "linear attacks", the Rapier took out the armed orcs who were considered a formidable enemy in the labyrinth without being scathed. It's just that it doesn't seem like an easy battle for him either. When the final blow pierced through the center of the enemy's breastplate, and the monster fell backwards and flew in all directions, the Rapier seemed to be pushed backwards by something invisible, stumbling and slamming his back into the wall of the pathway. Then he slid to the ground, repeating his rapid breathing.

Generally speaking, for strangers who are not in obvious crisis, there is no need to communicate with them if there are no other problems. All along, Kirito has done the same.

But perhaps because the other party's fighting style was very similar to that of one of his friends, Kirito still came out of the shadows after hesitating for a full five seconds.

The other party has a slender physique and a petite figure. The outfit was a long dark red leather bolero with a lightweight copper cuirass, and the lower half of the body was fitted with leather trousers and knee-length boots. His face was not visible because he had pulled down the waist-length hooded cloak to cover his head. Except for the cloak, it is almost a common fencer's equipment, but Kirito, as a one-handed swordsman, is actually dressed like him. Due to the heavy weight of the current weapon, the Sword of Fortitude, Kirito avoided wearing metal armor as much as possible to ensure the speed of his sword skills, and wore only a dark gray leather coat and a small chest guard.

Kirito stopped two meters away from him and said:

"Your attack just now is a bit too much overdose."

The slender shoulders under the thick cloth cloak moved slightly. The hood slowly lifted up about five centimeters, and then the two eyes in the depths glared at me with a sharp gaze. Except for the light brown iris, I couldn't see anything clearly.

The person in front of him stared at Kirito for a few seconds before tilting his head slightly to the right. It should be to show that he doesn't understand what Kirito is saying.

Seeing this, Kirito had the idea that "it really is".

The reason why he didn't pass directly by was because the person in front of him had a very unique behavior pattern.

Rapier allows the "linear attack" to be cast almost to the player's limit. The starting motion of unleashing the sword skill is accurate and fast, and the speed of the attack is fast and accurate, and Kirito has never seen a player who can use this simple basic skill so skillfully.

So at first, Kirito thought that this person was a closed beta player just like him.

But after carefully looking at the complete battle process of the person in front of him, Kirito became suspicious of his own speculation. Although the opponent's sword skills are quite perfect, the fighting style is too dangerous. Compared to blocking, dodging enemy attacks with the shortest distance of movement, and then counterattacking is of course more effective. And it doesn't reduce the durability of the equipment too quickly because of too many injuries.

But in doing so, the danger of failure of the defense is also very great. If you are accidentally attacked, you will even lose your ability to fight due to the stun caused by eating the monster's control skills. When fighting alone, the stun is fatal to the player.

Previously, when Sword Art Online games were still in their gaming period, it was just a matter of fighting style. But now that Sword Art Online has become a game of death, such a way of fighting is undoubtedly dancing on the tip of the sword.

One of his friends, a female two-handed swordsman named Saber, is also good at fighting in a similar way, and Kirito has repeatedly discouraged him, but he still goes his own way.

But until now, the blonde female swordsman is still alive and well.

But the other party has never even heard of this extremely popular online game term. In other words, the Rapier in front of him is not a closed beta player, and he may not even have played an MMO game before coming here.

Kirito took a light breath and began to elaborate:

"What about overdose...... It means that it does too much damage to monsters that have little HP left. The kobold just now was already on the verge of being a dog at the time of the second 'linear attack'...... No, I think I'm in a near-death state. There should only be a little bit of HP left, so you don't need to use sword skills, just use normal attacks to end the battle. ”

After listening to Kirito's explanation, the Rapier still didn't react for a full ten seconds. Finally, a small sound came from the hood that was pulled down deeply.

“………… Even if it's excessive, what does it matter? ”

At this moment, Kiritsu was sluggish to realize that the squat sword in front of him was an extremely rare female player in this world, especially in the depths of the labyrinth area.

In a typical online game, it should be a time when players have reached the initial level cap and the map is about to be broken from start to finish. But in this SAO, the current level of the highest-level player group is only about 10 - I don't know how big a gap with the average player - is only about that. On the game's map, the part of the floating city of Ayn Grant that is trampled on is only a few percent of the total area.

This is because SAO is no longer a game, but a prison in some sense. In the absence of the ability to voluntarily exit the game, and the death of the character is equal to the real death of the player, no one dares to burrow into the maze of dangerous monsters and traps alone.

In addition, in a world where game designers enforce the gender identity of players and characters, the number of female gamers can be said to be extremely rare. It's been a month, and most of the female players are still in the "starting town", in fact, in this huge labyrinth, the "first layer of the maze area", Kirito has only seen female players two or three times so far, and all of them are members of large teams.

“………… Excessive attacks do not hurt in battle, and there is no punishment for them...... But the efficiency is too poor. The use of sword skills requires concentration, and the constant use of sword skills can be very exhausting. Considering that there may be a crisis on the way back, it is better to adopt a combat method that does not get too tired. ”

“………… Get back? ”

A questioning sound sounded from the hood pulled down deeply. Although the voice is rather hoarse from fatigue, and there is no intonation or pause, it is still quite pleasant.

Kirito explained more:

"It would take nearly an hour just to get out of the maze from here, and another thirty minutes to get to the nearest town. If you are too tired, you will easily make mistakes. I think you're a solo player, and even a small mistake can be fatal if you're alone. ”

As Kirito said this, he asked himself: Why do you put so much effort into persuading others? Because the other party is a woman - it should be more than that, because he has already said a lot of things before he knows the other person's gender.

After listening to Kirito's words, after a long time, the Rasake finally reacted.

“…… If that's the case, then you should be fine. Because I'm not going back. ”

"You...... You say you won't go back to town......? That...... Potion supply, equipment repair, ...... And sleep ......"

Faced with Kirito's surprised rhetorical question, Rasake only shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"As long as you don't get hurt, you don't need potions, and I bought five of the same swords. Other than that...... Just rest in a safe area nearby. ”

The unusually hoarse murmur made Kirito speechless for a while.

The so-called safe zone refers to the rooms inside the labyrinth where several monsters do not appear. This can be distinguished by the specially-colored torches hanging from the four corners of the wall. Although it can be used as a valuable place to rest when hunting and expanding the map, it can only provide a short break of about an hour at most. There was no bed in that room, of course, and the stone floor was rather cold, and the footsteps and roars of monsters could often be heard coming from the nearby passageway. So even the most daring players can't sleep in it.

But from what the Rapier had just said, it sounded as if she had used the safe zone as a town inn, and had been hiding in the labyrinth...... That's right?

“………… How many hours have you been fighting monsters like this? ”

As a result, the Rapier replied with a long exhale:

"Three days...... It's still four days. Is it okay......? The monsters in this area should have been resurrected, and I should be gone. ”

She leaned against the wall with her slender left hand in leather gloves and staggered to her feet.

The rapier makes the unsheathed rapier in his hand, but his arms hang down as heavily as if he were carrying a heavy load.

The woman in front of her slowly walked away one step or two, and the cloak covering her whole body was full of holes. It can be seen that the durability of the equipment is already very low.

It should be said that it is a miracle that this fragile cloth equipment can maintain such an appearance after four days of continuous hunting. It seems that she did not exaggerate when she said "as long as you don't get hurt......

Although he learned about these things, Kirito still squeezed out a sentence that even he didn't expect.

“………… If you continue to fight in this way, you will die. ”

The rapier that stopped in his footsteps leaned his right shoulder against the wall and slowly turned. The eyes under the hood that looked like light brown just now, glowing red.

“………… Anyway, everyone can't escape death after all. ”

The hoarse, shattering voice made the chilly labyrinth even colder.

"Two thousand people have died in this month alone, but they haven't even broken through the first layer. This game is impossible to hack. So just in what place and in what form, and early death...... Or just die late............"

The longest and most affectionate passage she had uttered so far began to fade halfway through, and finally came to an abrupt halt.

Rapier slowly collapsed to the ground as if in shock suddenly.

"What should I do?"

Kirito felt a headache.

In fact, the female player in front of him is almost looking for death, and as a passer-by who meets in Pingshui, Kirito, has no obligation to help her, but he always feels that if he doesn't do something, his conscience will definitely be condemned.

Moreover, he always felt that the female gamer in front of him would always remind him of Saber's never-ending optimist.

"What the hell has that guy been up to lately?"

It's been more than a month since Akihiko Kayaba announced that Sword Art Online had become a game of death. In the end, there are still many players who gradually accepted the reality after a long wait, and began to enter the game one by one outside the novice village.

And Kirito and Li Xiang, who were the first to walk out of the novice village, have not seen each other since they parted ways in Crescent City. Although the two have been in contact with each other through messages, every time Kirito asks each other if they want to join up and form a team, the other party refuses on the grounds that he has been busy lately.

"How can you have the illusion of being dumped by your girlfriend?"

Kirito shook his head helplessly and smiled.

"Speaking of which, Saber said that when the first level strategy meeting starts, he will come to "Torbana" (the town closest to the labyrinth district), and be sure to ask her what she's been up to lately. ”

Kirito opened the backpack menu, clicked a few times, and took out a large black cloth prop.

"No matter, let's take this deadly guy back to the safe zone."