Walking through the basin, there is a winding narrow valley in front of you, and on the left and right sides are almost vertical cliffs, and the smooth rocks are not to mention the road, and there is not even a place to exert force, so it is absolutely impossible to climb up, so you can only walk honestly from the valley.

The group walked through the valley and came to a completely new area.

Although the topography of the Round Table Mountains has not changed at all, it is completely different from the laid-back atmosphere of the wide, pasture-filled areas of the north, and the flat land of this new area is almost entirely covered with dense forests, even the rocks of the mountains are covered with vines, and the dense fog also makes the sight quite bad, just looking at it makes it much more dangerous.

Standing at the exit of the valley, you can already clearly see the silhouette of the second-story labyrinth tower standing in the distance of the jungle.

It extends straight to the broad base of the third floor, and although it is slightly thinner than the tower on the first floor, it is at least more than 250 meters in diameter, so it is more appropriate to say that it is not so much a tower as an amphitheater.

"What is that?"

Asuna asked with a strange gesture as she pointed into the distance.

Ling Ze looked forward, and what Asuna was pointing at were two long curved protruding horns sticking out of front of the upper part of the giant tower.

"Horns."

Kirito replied very simply, even the labyrinth tower has a sign of horns, and it is self-evident what the theme of this floor is, and there is still a "cow" behind it.

"Is it still a cow, I thought that after the huge black bull was defeated just now, there would be no more cow-shaped monsters behind it."

Klein was a little speechless, this SAO monster designer is too lazy, right? Could it be a fan of the "cow element"?

"When you get closer, you can see that there is a huge cow relief there, because that's the theme of the second layer, so the next thing is the highlight of the second layer."

As a closed beta player who has explored on the second floor, Kirito naturally knows what's going on behind, and the next monster is still inseparable from the "cow", but the "meat" is not very tasty, or rather, although the monsters in the back will also drop "meat", but few people eat it, after all, those monsters still have a "human" word.

"There is a final village about a kilometer to the southeast, and further on is the maze area, even if you take all the tasks in the village, you should be able to reach the maze tower before noon, and it is safer and faster to take a detour from the left than to enter the forest from the front road, so my advice is to take a detour from the left."

Kirito is like a humanoid strategy manual.,He arranges everything in an orderly manner.,Maybe that's the horror of the "back-picture strategy monster".

"Let's go."

Ling Ze nodded, and asked him to lead the way in front, and the group followed Kirito's pace quickly, and soon came to what Kirito called "the last village".

Compared to the "Mamero", this village looks more wild, and compared to the "Mamero", which is usually guarded, this village called "Outpost Village" is more like a military camp, many tall guards are fully armed in front of the village gate, and the whole village is also surrounded by a tall wooden fence, as if to guard against something.

"Weird, is this a new game mechanic?"

Klein scratched his head, he was also an old gamer, as soon as he found out about this strange phenomenon, he realized the problem, the special nature of this village obviously would not be without reason, it should be some kind of special mechanic.

"There are related tasks, such as helping the village self-defense forces to defend the village, this is a long-term mission, occasionally there will be minotaurs to attack the village, as long as you help guard the village when the minotaurs come to attack the village, you can get the rewards provided by the self-defense forces."

Kirito's words answer Klein's doubts, this is indeed a new mechanic, as a lonely village near the labyrinth area, "Outpost Village" has a unique "defensive battle mechanism".

"Minotaurs? Is it a monster that you will encounter later? ”

Asuna asked, the word "Minotaur" seemed to make her a little curious, of course, she must not know what "NTR" or "pure love warrior" was, and she didn't know that she almost made Kirito a "Minotaur" after that.

Asuna is curious about the "Minotaurs", simply because the race has also appeared in myths and legends.

"Yes, there are eight minotaurs walking upright."

Kirito nodded affirmatively, monsters like minotaurs are still very common in MMORPG games, but he can also understand Asuna's doubts, because Asuna is a newcomer who plays games for the first time after all.

"Is it the kind of minotaur from Greek mythology?"

Asuna, a newcomer to the game, apparently has no idea about Kirito's description, and her understanding of "Minotaur" is derived from Greek mythology, not some other RPG game.

"Yes, that's right, it's the Minotaur in Greek mythology, who lives in a huge labyrinth in Crete, the correct name is Minotaur, in short, a monster that lives in an underground labyrinth, and was killed by the brave Theseus, right?"

Kirito opened his mouth to explain that his knowledge of Greek mythology came from reading stories to his sister Naoba when he was a child, and his sister Kiritani Naoba was very interested in them.

"These are all elements that are very suitable for making games, so from a long time ago, the Minotaur has appeared in many RPGs, but this game doesn't know why they are not called Minotaurs, but changed to the Bull Clan, but everyone is still used to calling them Minotaurs."

Kirito shifts the subject, shifting the subject from unfamiliar myths to games, which is his area of expertise.

"It's better to change it, because Minotaur's Mino refers to the Minoan of King Minoan, right? Nominally, the Minoan was also the son of the King of Minos, and the name means Minos's cow. ”

Unfortunately, Asuna was apparently more interested in what she knew about the mythology, which left Kirito unable to answer for a while.

"Indeed, after all, after the death of King Minos, he became a judge in the underworld, and he is one of the three giants of the underworld."

And when it comes to Minos, Ling Zeke, who has just come from the Greek mythological world of "Saint Seiya", has something to say, Minos, the king of Crete, was snatched from his younger brother Radamandis, and these two brothers became judges of Hades after their deaths.

The "Big Three of the Underworld" in Saint Seiya are the two brothers Aeakos plus Minos and Radamandis.

These three are not famous in Greek mythology, but they are also somewhat influential, Aeacus is the father of Peleus and Tramon, both of whom are heroes who follow Iason's adventures on the Argo, and Paleus is the father of Achilles the "heel", and Telamon is the father of the hero Ajax the Great.

Minos was the king of Crete with great merit, and the Athenians who fought had to sue for peace in humiliation and could not raise their heads, so they were hacked all the time, and as for Radamandis, after being driven away by Minos, he married Hercules' mother, Alcmine, who was the granddaughter of Perseus.

Then Minos and Radamandis's own brother Salpedon, who killed Hercules' son Telepalemos, was then stabbed to death in a duel by Achilles' "good friend" Patroclus, whose father had also been on the Argo.

The most amazing thing is that the people who appeared before, including Aeacus, Minos, Radamandis, Salpedon, Hercules, and Perseus, are all sons of Zeus, and they can only sigh a curious Greek myth.

"yes, so if you call these monsters Minoan, King Minos will be angry, right?"

Asuna covered her mouth and chuckled, obviously joking, but she also reluctantly found a reason for SAO to change the name of the "Minotaur", although it didn't sound very reliable.

For Asuna's "little joke", everyone smiled cooperatively, after all, there is such a girl in the team, Kirito and Klein are quite spoiled.

"Take a break, take on the task, and then head to the maze area, I think there will be people coming over soon."

And after laughing, Ling Ze simply arranged the plan of action for the future, and everyone naturally had no opinions.

Under the leadership of Kirito, the group quickly took over the tasks in the "Outpost Village", and the task of "helping the villagers' self-defense forces" that could be done all the time was naturally included.

"Moo-oh-oh!!"

After the nine of them accepted the task, the roar of "cows" could be heard outside the village.

"The Bulls are here again! Self-Defense Forces Ready! Warriors! Please come with us! To defend the outpost village! For the homeland! ”

As soon as the roar of the "cows" sounded, the "Captain of the Villagers' Self-Defense Force" who had given Ling Ze and them the task immediately began to act, and while he picked up his weapon and rushed to the village gate, he did not forget to greet Ling Ze and them who had just accepted the task.

“......”

Everyone was silent for a while, and the monster invasion came immediately after this task, and this invasion was a bit too timely, right?

However, since they took the task, and they were originally going to set off for the labyrinth area, there was naturally no reason not to go.

Ling Ze and his entourage followed the "Captain of the Villager Self-Defense Force" to the entrance of the village, where they finally met the "Bull Clan".

"This ......"

Asuna, who was talking a lot just now, and even made a little joke, immediately showed a very disgusted expression after really seeing these "bull clans", it was really a bit of "Ye Gong is a good dragon", but she was not to blame.

Because these "bull clans" are indeed very in line with the image of the minotaur in Greek legends, if you ignore their bull heads, then there is no deviation in describing them as "almost naked muscular hunks", and the only covering on their bodies is a strip of cloth.

For Asuna, who grew up in the headmistress and was a "noble lady", this "unsightly" image is really a bit excessive.

"Moo-oh-oh-oh!"

With short horns on their heads and metal nose rings embedded in their noses, the almost naked bull-headed muscular hunks roared in anger and their huge bodies began to rush forward, and the "bull clan" began to attack, and they rushed to the village gate in a swarm.

At this time, the gate of the "Outpost Village" has been closed, but for some well-known reasons, the guards of the "Village Self-Defense Force" have no way to stand on the wall and fire arrows, or use other ranged weapons to attack.

After all, this is "SAO", you can't use long-range weapons to attack, and the only "flying sword stream" is a crooked way, even among the players, no one will practice, and these NPC "villager self-defense forces" are naturally no one to master.

Therefore, in the face of the charging "bull clan" warriors, the warriors of the "villager self-defense force" can only use spears to attack, and there are a lot of hidden "gun holes" on the gate, when the "bull clan" rushes forward to destroy the gate, the spearmen of the "villager self-defense force" are waiting for the opportunity to cause killing, which is definitely not comparable with the use of long-range weapons, but it is also as much as possible to find a way.

"It's not easy."

Ling Ze was a little speechless, for these NPCs, the basic setting of this world obviously has to be accepted if they don't want to, of course, players are no exception.

During the time he came to SAO, Ling Ze has been trying to understand the foundation of the existence of this self-learning world, and he is trying to deconstruct this world with the knowledge he has mastered, although this is a new "system" that is completely different from the knowledge he has mastered.

But Ling Ze's learning ability is very strong, and it is only a matter of time before he masters this knowledge, and as his "spiritual power" cultivation becomes more and more profound during this time, the influence of his power in this game world also becomes stronger and stronger, Ling Ze gradually has a more offensive idea, can he snatch the control of this "world" from the hands of Kayaba Jinghiko?

Looking at the "Minotaurs" who had destroyed the gate of the village and rushed into the battle area prepared by the "Villager Guard", Ling Ze thought to himself, maybe this approach of his was also a kind of "Minotaur"? It could even be a "husband who is currently committed"?

"Come on! Deal with these minotaurs! ”

As soon as the minotaurs rushed into the battle area behind the fence, the warriors of the "Village Guard" began to fight bravely, and the battle was somewhat evenly matched for a while.

And the addition of Kirito, Asuna, and Klein has become a powerful external factor that destroys the balance of the scales.

The "Bull Clan Warrior" named "Lower Bull Attacker" is not very strong, and with the help of Kirito, Asuna, and Klein, the "Village Guard" easily solved the battle and killed all the "Bull Clan" who would commit the crime.

The "Villager Self-Defense Force" began to dispose of the corpses, and the captain took the initiative to come over and settle the reward for Kirito.

"The reward is quite generous, is it because there are few people involved in the battle, and our contribution is relatively large?"

Klein was a little surprised when he saw the mission rewards, and his guess was confirmed by veteran player Kirito.