Am I the only one streaming Sword Art Online on the entire internet?

“Keep going, we’re almost there.” Sinon folded her sword and spear and put them behind her back. Then she looked at Kirito, who was staring in disbelief, and asked, “Are you there? Why are you spacing out?”

"I'm wondering how much Agility Asuna, as a healer, actually put into... Is this really a priest role?" Kirito muttered to himself after a long pause, "Why do all you girls turn into Barsakas at times like this?"

“If you think about it this way, in D&D, the priest is actually a combat class with the main attribute being perception. It’s not surprising that occasionally a particularly strong one will appear.” Sinon shrugged, looking calm. “As for why it became Barthaka… I remember Thorin saying something like ‘Just do whatever you want, fight until you bleed, I’m really strong this time,’ which was quite a long speech. I thought it was interesting, so I decided to give it a try.”

"Well...you guys are really messing around." Kirito sighed softly. He felt that as a proper swordsman, he was increasingly becoming a slacker in this team. "You guys are charging ahead so much, all I can do is cheer from behind..."

“There’s nothing wrong with hiding in the back and shouting 666, anyway, Kirito is super cute, isn’t he?” Asuna smiled at Kirito, then suddenly hugged him, burying his head in a very intimate spot, while gently stroking his still waist-length black hair with one hand. “Leave the fighting to us… I’ve actually wanted to say that for a while.”

"But please allow me to make some embarrassing noises right now... Hey, hey, hey, I can't breathe... Rua." Kirito struggled in Asuna's arms for a while before Asuna finally let him go. He stood there panting, a strange blush on his face. "Seriously... Asuna, can't you at least give me some face...?"

"Oh dear, Kirito's shy~" Asuna smiled and gently touched Kirito's chin, then turned around gracefully to look at Sinon, who was already walking ahead. "Hey~ Shinono~ Is it really necessary to be in such a hurry?"

"...Although we've seen some delightful scenes, let's go into the Beacon Tower first. There are still quite a few enemies there." Sinon replied as she hurriedly ran towards the Ije Guild gate, which had red and blue on the left and right sides and a large Flame Spirit emblem in the middle. "We've already encountered so many obstacles outside, there must be quite a few enemies inside."

“That’s right, but according to what Sorin just told me, whether we can enter the territory of the Ije Alliance like this is another matter.” Kirito jogged a few steps to catch up with Sinon and continued, “He said that just now, Nimitz, the president of the Ije Alliance, was murdered, and now the entire Ije Alliance is under martial law.”

Just as Kirito said, many more guards have been added to the gate. They are watching the three people who are trying to enter the gate of the Ije Guild with their weapons raised high, as if threatening them.

“Outsiders, you are not welcome here. Get out,” said the leading ghostly electric sorcerer.

"Don't worry about that, my reputation is very high, nothing will happen." Sinon calmly clapped her hands, took out a flame spirit emblem about the size of a palm from her backpack, which shone with a bright light, and showed it to the two ghostly electric sorcerers guarding the door. "I am Sinon, and I have been ordered by Lord Lalcharek to shut down the interdimensional beacon."

She said this confidently, but when she uttered the name "Lalcharek," the guards' previously unfriendly gazes instantly turned into a mixture of anger and hatred, filled with hostility.

“That traitor Larcharek…you’re in cahoots with him, aren’t you?”

------

"Well, so the entire third floor is a multi-temperature office. It looks really impressive."

Solin had already led the team to the third floor. The structure of the third floor was much simpler than the second. Upon entering, they found themselves in a spacious hall with six closed cabinets around the perimeter; Solin couldn't see what was inside. A short distance to the left was a room of unknown purpose—it was said to be unknown because it appeared to be where Duowen usually worked. Directly above where they were, a sphere that constantly emitted a blinding light hung suspended.

“Eternal Sun… It seems this is indeed Dowen’s territory. Although I don’t know why he’s not here now, this is actually good news for us.” Sorin shrugged, intending to try to reach down the Eternal Sun in mid-air. “Once we smash that thing, our mission will be complete, and we can retreat the way we came.”

"It sounds like you have a very sophisticated criminal process. Could you share some with me, and while you're at it, let me arrest you...spies and put you in jail?"

315. A simp won't get a house.

The voice that suddenly interrupted carried an undeniable air of authority. It was a deep baritone voice, and although Solin didn't recognize the voice, he could still guess who was the person who had suddenly appeared at this moment.

"Dowinbane. It seems you didn't choose to continue humiliating yourself in Caladish, but instead went to a place where nobody knows you, thinking no one would know how pathetic you are... Unfortunately, I know. Not only me, but all the Guardians of the Covenant have come here."

Suolin answered calmly, without even turning his head, as if he were maintaining his air of superiority as a so-called "reclusive master." Of course, no one knew where he got this air of superiority from.

"Shameful... I'm just upholding the absolute law. A lawless outlaw like you will never understand," the voice replied once more.

Yuna looked toward the source of the sound. It was a bald, blue-skinned Vidoken man who looked similar to the artifact master in the team (yes, just like no one can tell the difference between two mosquitoes - this analogy is a bit exaggerated but it is true). He was wearing a neat robe of the ruling council and had a strangely shaped metal puzzle floating in his hand.

"Absolute law? Are you talking about being a lapdog for a dragon?" Sorin chuckled, then retorted sarcastically, "Or are you willing to hand over the entire city of Ravnica to Niconiconi and personally greet them with 'Please come in, sir' in order to uphold this ethereal law?"

“Bolas is a dangerous guy, but I don’t think he’s that dangerous…” Dowin frowned, but before he could finish speaking, Sorin impatiently interrupted him.

"What the hell do you know about Bolas? You think he won't blow up Ravnica? You think he won't cause trouble?" He pointed a finger at Dowin's face and shouted angrily, "Let's all go! There's no need to talk about chivalry with this kind of bastard!"

After saying that, he drew his one-handed sword and charged towards Dowin, his body shimmering with an unusual light.

"While what you said is true, I still feel like you're setting some kind of flag, Sorin..." When Yuna heard Sorin say that, her expression suddenly became a little strange, but she still subconsciously followed Sorin and rushed towards the direction of Duowen.

"While I understand your actions, that doesn't mean I'll allow you to run rampant in the Ozoli Building... In the name of the law! Repulsion Field!"

Dowen suddenly turned around, and the Mystery Knot in his hand emitted two beams of light that enveloped Yuna and Sorin, who were charging forward in the first wave. The light did not seem to have any killing power, and in fact it did. However, after Sorin and Yuna's slashes hit Dowen, they did not feel a clear impact. Instead, a powerful repulsive force pushed them away.

"Bluster. If this thing of yours were truly a 'field,' you would be part of the Ten Great Alliances of the Real World instead of a mere Guild Master of the Ozoli." Solin calmly played on a joke that others only half-understood, while simultaneously revealing the truth behind this repulsive spiritual energy. "Let's attack together! He can't suppress everyone!"

"Understood!" Yuuki shouted back and rushed forward. "Yuuki, prepare for the blockade; Tich, send out your Silver Golem too!"

"Understood, Yuuki-neechan!" Yuuki waved her hand, and a strange force of resistance instantly appeared in the room. "Static equilibrium!"

"Damn, I guessed Xiao Ji's ability was probably deadlock, but static balance is too much..." Solin's expression suddenly became very interesting. After he released a one-handed sword skill, [Vertical Square Slash], a prompt flashed in front of him: [Static balance is in effect. You cannot use Vertical Square Slash while static balance is still in effect.] "Little sister, stop your magic! This is attacking friendly forces! Ceasefire!"

“No need to stop. The opponent is an Artifact Master. Without the ability to reuse skills, they definitely can't handle the attacks of the three of us melee fighters,” Yuuki calmly replied. She stopped Koki from stopping the Static Balance casting, and then slashed at Dowinbane with a sharp sword. “Take this!”

"That's not what I meant! He has reinforcements!" Solin shouted anxiously. He saw Yuki, who was unaffected by the repulsion field, lose almost half of her health bar instantly, but he felt no joy. "Adjust formation! Protect the back row!"

"It seems you know us quite well... this unknown gentleman."

Dowen looked quite disheveled, but he showed no sign of panic. He waved the mystery knot in his hand again, and it instantly turned emerald green. The cabinets behind them, which had been tightly closed, suddenly opened.

"Vitality Giant Machine, Attack!"

An inorganic, mechanical sound came from behind. Yuki turned around and saw a light emerge from the open cabinet... a tall machine covered in moss and shrubs from head to toe.

"Call the police! There really is a Gundam across the street!"

After shouting that, Sorin tried to slash at Dowen again. However, Dowen did not suffer as much damage as when Yuki had slashed him before; his health bar did not even drop. Instead, a ripple suddenly appeared on the surface of the giant life machine.

"Forget about Dowen! Smash that Gundam to pieces!" Sorin turned around, pointed at the tall machine with green hair that looked like it was living a decent life, and then commanded, "We can't beat Dowen if we don't take care of that thing. Its main body is invincible right now."

"So, the boss fight here requires taking down the Life-Giant Mech first, right?" Yuuki quickly guessed the sequence of the Dowinbane boss fight, then pointed to the Life-Giant Mech and asked, "So, something as powerful as it..."

"There are four more, but judging from the number of cabinets, there should be five. I just don't know what the last one is." Sorin first slashed at the knee of the swarming behemoth, then quickly rolled to the side to dodge its war stomp. Without thinking, she slashed out her war staff and flew it towards its head. "The swarming behemoth is probably controlled by Dowen himself. Try to confuse its senses, little illusionist!"

"I...I understand!" Huan forced down her fear, her hands flashing with light, but the next moment she collapsed to the ground as if she had suffered a great injury, coughing incessantly.

Chapter 316, The Giant Machine of Life Destroyed! (Bonus Chapter 1/31)

"The illusion is ineffective?" Huan muttered in surprise as he coughed violently. "Impossible... In fact, it's more accurate to say that it was countered rather than ineffective."

It must be Bolas's blessing; that guy really went all out to give a dog such a powerful buff. Perhaps he was worried that Jespellian would use mind magic to spy on him and thus learn Bolas's true plans. Sorin thought this with a hint of malice. But regardless of whether things turned out this way, in this battle, the illusionist and the alchemist were likely to be useless.

"Prag, take the little one away from the battlefield and keep an eye on her. This battle is probably none of your business!" Sorin commanded decisively. He steadied himself on the top of the life-giving behemoth, then, despite the intense shock, walked on its shoulder, trying to find its energy core or something similar. "This thing burns ether... Can anyone figure out where its power plant is?"

“Let me try,” Teach replied calmly, still holding the Enigma Knot in his hand, charging the Silver Golem from a distance. After hearing Thorin's words, he quickly pulled a pair of glasses from his backpack and put them on. “Searching, give me some time.”

"Hurry up, I have a feeling that if I give you any more time, this thing will be blown to bits." Sorin wasn't idle either. He fixed himself to the back of the life-gathering behemoth and poked it with beehives again and again... This analogy was quite accurate, because the life-gathering behemoth did indeed have beehive-like mechanical devices on its body, and it could also use these devices to release small flapping-wing machines to interfere with the team members' output cycle.

After swinging its arms a couple of times and stomping the floor a few times, it decided to ignore Sorin, who was clinging to its back in a frenzied frenzy, and instead set its sights on the unfortunate silver golem Titan, who was probably the main tank in the squad. As everyone knows, silver golems are no match for the Vitality Giants, especially if they put all their counters on themselves. This is evident from their stats on paper; even named silver golems are no match, let alone this one from Tich.

The Colossus of Life simply slapped away the Silver Golem blocking its path, reducing its durability by more than half. Tich hurriedly channeled the ethereal energy within the Enigma to repair his Silver Golem, but before he could finish the repair, the Colossus of Life launched a second attack, delivering another slap.

This slap was quite fatal, because it was followed immediately by a powerful war stomp, which immobilized the silver golem, which had just been hit again and hadn't had time to retreat.

"Tich, put your golem away! Everyone, prepare for mobile warfare!" Sorin shouted, seeing the situation was turning against him. "Get moving! This thing can't run fast, we can kite it!"

"You don't need to tell me!" Yuuki lightly jumped to the side, dodging the giant hand that the life-giving machine reached out to her. Then, she jumped back slightly and struck the life-giving machine with a horizontal slash. "You definitely can't take on a guy like that head-on!"

"Should I be glad there isn't a snake here for it to use... or rather, there aren't any deadly things like sturdy scales here?" Sorin had already climbed up behind it and, seeing the tangled cables behind it, suddenly had an inspiration. "I think I've found this thing's Achilles' heel."

As he spoke, he forcefully thrust his one-handed sword into a crevice in the back of the giant machine, then, gripping the hilt like he was doing a horizontal bar exercise, completed a 360-degree spin in mid-air, soaring high into the air. He then adjusted his posture in mid-air and forcefully stepped onto the hilt. "Watch closely, guys, perfect execution! Even though I've never studied gymnastics."

Thanks to the sword's sturdiness, he didn't suffer the embarrassing situation of the hilt suddenly breaking after performing his fancy moves. The sharp blade drew a series of sparks from the back of the swarming behemoth, igniting the severed cables. Sorin could even see the ether burning fiercely inside. He quickly pulled the sword out forcefully, performed a backflip, landed steadily on the ground, and then jogged a few steps away from the behemoth's range.

"Watch out, that thing's going to explode!" he shouted, quickly rolling to Dowin's side, preparing for a second round of attacks. Just as he said, after trembling for a while, the Life Giant suddenly knelt on the ground, followed by a series of explosions starting from its back. The explosions almost blew the roof of the Ozoli Senate building off onto the Sacred Fountain.

Yuki and Yuna, who were engaged in close combat, quickly withdrew from the blast radius and followed Sorin to Dowin's side.

"Now it's proven one thing: nothing can escape the death knell, Dorwin. If you have any more skills, then bring them on." Thorin slashed at Dorwin without mercy, while simultaneously taunting him, "I don't believe a traitor like you can turn the world upside down. Call them all out!"

"We don't need to summon them all to deal with you. Don't expect the next one to be as easy to handle as the Life Giant." Dowen sneered, casting an ethereal shield around himself with the Enigma in his hand, which then suddenly turned black. Behind Sorin and the others, another cabinet opened silently.

"It's a vicious behemoth! Watch out for its entry attack!"

------

"Wait a minute, Sinon, this isn't what we agreed on!" Kirito ran away frantically, still complaining about Sorin's incorrect information. "Why did this happen just because we mentioned Lalcharek?"

“I think things might be a little different. At least for now, this misunderstanding can’t be cleared up. We can only evacuate here first and then go back to the Tenth District to find the Guardians,” Sinon replied calmly. “If I’m not mistaken, the Guardians are also thinking about how to break the deadlock, and they will probably have to lead a team here in the end to find a way to shut down the interdimensional beacon, if they don’t do something stupid by directly challenging Bolas.”

"The problem is, Miss Sinon, you've said this so many times, have you ever actually guessed it correctly?" Kirito couldn't help but complain after hearing Sinon's words. "So why has it turned out like this... Didn't we agree that only one person needed to use their brain and the others could just act like brutes?"

"I'm sorry, but since the plan has gone slightly wrong, it means we may all need to pick our brains back now."

3.4. On the commonalities between the Spark Battle and Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

There aren't many monsters near the Ije Guild because it's a very remote area. The main force of the Immortals isn't in this direction, so this place has become a place for newbies who have just joined the game to grind monsters and earn progress in the global quest.

However, most players weren't satisfied with simply grinding monsters; they wanted more, which could only be achieved by accepting faction quests. At this moment, they all began to realize that this quest wasn't so easy to complete. One possible reason was that the system prompted them to find their guild's first or second-tier leaders to accept the faction quest, but several guild leaders were currently missing, such as the elusive Dimir Guild, the Guru Tribe whose guild leader was a traitor, the Gorgari Settlement, and the Ozori Senate, and…

Guild leader Nimiter was murdered, and the second-in-command, Lalcharek, was branded a traitor by the Ije Alliance. Players who chose Ije were among the worst off, lingering on the outskirts of the Ije guild's territory killing monsters, seemingly helpless in the face of their current predicament.

Fortunately, someone was able to break the deadlock. However, Shino didn't seem to intend to share her information with the confused Ije players. She knew the importance of this information and understood that they could use it to gain a significant advantage.

Kirito is a nice guy, but he's clearly not naive enough to ask Sinon why she didn't share the information they have with the other players. This isn't a death game anymore; he could easily use this information to get ahead of everyone else.

He was clearly pondering other questions. For example, why did Suolin know these things? Or why could he remember things from five or six years ago so clearly?

“Actually, it’s quite normal. This game is designed to have various collaborations, and players who are already in these areas will naturally gain an advantage. This is one of the reasons why it can attract a lot of people when each expansion is released.” Sinon saw Kirito’s confusion and explained, “And it’s normal for Sorin to know about these things as a card player himself.”

"I see. But even if I played this game, I probably wouldn't remember all the details of this part of the story for six years. The Spark War happened in 2019... By the way, why are you suddenly using a knife in this game? I remember you could set up a pure gun skill tree when choosing your character." Kirito put that question aside for the moment and then asked, "I can't really be like you said, wanting to put my brain aside and be a brute for once. If Mr. Ya-o or Mr. Agil said that, I might believe it, but Sinon, you're obviously not that kind of person."

“You know, Kirito, there’s a limit to how much you can think things through. Because no one can predict everything.” Sinon’s lips curled up slightly, her gaze as dangerous as a wolf ready to hunt. “And it’s not just because of that, I also find close combat quite enjoyable… Of course, the main reason is that my viewers are tired of me playing FPS games. It’s that simple.”

"It sounds simple, but your reasons are actually quite complicated..."

Kirito shrugged helplessly and sighed. He still had the leisure to chat with Sinon and Asuna because this wasn't the front line of the battle.

At this moment, the Immortal Terrified Army, surging out from the Time-Space Bridge, is already attacking the Boros Order's stronghold. They are engaged in street fighting with the Angel Legion guarding the area, determined to take over the entire Yangyuan. The Ije Alliance's stronghold, located on the outskirts, is clearly not their main target.

Of course, that's also the end point of their current operation. Although the Zhenju Army has deployed a large number of troops to the streets near Yangyuan, the Ten-Alliance office building is still serving as a monster-spawning spot, where there are quite a few monsters as well. In other words, Kirito can only have time to chat here.

"I feel like this plot is pretty familiar. A villain from the entire universe leads his army against all the forces of a world, and tries to destroy that world or something..." Asuna muttered to herself, then suddenly realized, "Isn't this the plot of Avengers 3 and 4?"

"Maybe. Actually, after getting the story summary from Sorin, I suspected for a moment that the script was directly taken from the Avengers." Kirito nodded, flipping through all the system prompts so far. "The Avengers became the Guardian Oath, and the purple potato became Nico. Thinking about it, they are quite similar."

"So, if this storyline continues, someone from that Guardian's Oath... will probably sacrifice themselves in this battle." Asuna's expression suddenly turned melancholic as she said this. "Why do these kinds of stories always happen?"

“Because tragedy is what truly touches people’s hearts, Asuna. No one’s life is smooth sailing or without any major ups and downs, so it’s things that resonate with us.” Sinon’s tone was also somewhat melancholy. She closed her eyes slightly, as if thinking about her past, and sighed softly. “Or you can also interpret this as a specific idea of ​​some people. After all, there is never a shortage of warriors of love in this world.”

"The Warrior of Love is alright. But I think it's precisely because there are so many disappointments in real life that people want to find a perfect ending in a virtual story." Kirito offered a different perspective. He pondered for a moment, shuffled the cards after looking at the three tiles, and replied, "My opinion on this might be a bit different, and I'm more inclined to use my abilities to change the tragedy. Even if some very important people did sacrifice themselves in the original storyline of the Spark War, we as players actually have the ability to change that ending."

"Sounds good, doesn't it? Heroes who change the course of history... That's the role we players play, isn't it?" Asuna murmured thoughtfully. "Kirito, do you think we can change all of this?"

"I don't know either. We can only take it one step at a time for now." Kirito shrugged, then gently patted Asuna's shoulder and said firmly, "We still hope for a better ending. Isn't that the essence of an MMORPG?"