A journey to another world starting from a sword

Whenever she changed her stance, the skin peeking through the seams of her stockings created a breathtaking contrast with the black fabric, like the eyes of a beast lurking in the darkness.

"To actually make an innocent young girl wear such clothes, Ashura... Well done," Dante thought to himself with a silent sigh.

She herself was dressed in a graceful red dress, smiling as she looked over.

"How about it?"

After fixing the details on someone's clothes, Asuna turned around and smiled, "Hmm! Perfect!"

"That's good, thank you for your patronage~"

"It's almost time. Proceed according to plan." Dante turned and nodded to everyone.

"Okay!" "Received." "Understood."

Each person entered the casino one by one with 30,000 chips. After he took his ticket and sat down to wait, Dante looked around and saw that his companions had also casually found a place to sit down. He then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you that nervous?" "That's not like you at all."

"...Didn't I tell you not to sit so close?" Dante turned his head helplessly to look at Asuna and Mito behind him.

To prevent easy access to women's skirts, the seat height is strictly set, so he doesn't need to worry about anything when looking back.

"What? Don't flatter yourself. I'm sitting here because it's the quietest place." Asuna pouted her cute lips, crossed her arms, and puffed out her chest in dissatisfaction.

"As expected, that old man didn't show up." The starting bell for the match had already rung, and Mitt looked around to confirm.

“Looks like our plan is going well.” After a pause, Dante couldn’t help but complain, “Seriously, you guys are sitting so close together, it’s easy for people to tell we’re in cahoots. Why don’t you just stop hiding it and come sit over here?”

"Is it really that conspicuous?" Asuna asked after moving to her seat.

“No, I don’t know,” Mitt shook his head.

"Really, are there any people here who are prettier than the two of you?" Dante asked frankly.

"No way, Miss Jeliska is much sexier than us." Asuna's expression seemed to indicate displeasure, but she seemed quite happy with the conversation itself.

When she was leaving the venue after winning the match, she seemed to be in a good mood and reached out her hand to Dante.

"I'll definitely allow you to hold my arm."

"It's my pleasure, young lady." Without changing his expression, Dante satisfied the other's desire for attention, then looked to the other side, "Would the other young lady like some too?"

"Ah... um, please." Mitt paused for a moment, then took a half step closer and placed his hand in the crook of someone's arm. "Speaking of which, that player we met last time, he didn't come today."

"That person?" Dante frowned slightly.

It seems that the casino owner's appearance last time made Heathcliff realize something was amiss, so he decided to make a clean getaway.

That's really decisive.

Chapter 147: The Last Day

Heathcliff probably didn't expect that at this stage, a player would be able to come up with a huge sum of hundreds of thousands of Cors.

Despite being the highest authority holder in SAO, he could easily obtain billions of Cors by simply entering a number, a number sufficient to cause inflation in Aincrad.

In the end, he still came to the casino to accumulate capital by using the rules within the rules. But when he thought that Heathcliff would give him the bug-level unique skill "Holy Sword" again... maybe SAO really was just a game to him.

After leaving the casino, the three arrived at the agreed-upon square alley.

“You guys—the three of you are being a bit too flashy.” Argo squinted to confirm, then looked dumbfounded.

"Is that so?" Dante asked knowingly.

“Of course. In other people’s eyes, it’s just like…” Argo suddenly paused, pondering how to describe the feeling.

"Beauty and the Beast?" Dante joked, tilting his head.

These words instantly elicited a sweet laugh from Asuna, who gracefully and swiftly withdrew her hand. "Thank you for escorting me, Mr. Beast."

"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter in the alley.

"No, I was just joking." Dante also let go of Mitt's other hand and then ruffled Silica's hair as she leaned closer.

"How could I be a beast? I specifically tightened my shoulders and waist to make my body lines look more balanced," Ashura proudly stated as a fashion designer.

"Thank you so much. No wonder I felt like I couldn't stretch my shoulders," Dante sighed.

“Well, he’s really handsome, and I think they look more like a prince and princess.” Jeliska, wearing a sexy purple dress, covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Did you hear that, Princess?" Dante teased, glancing at Asuna and Mito.

"Don't get too cocky," Mitt muttered under his breath, then walked behind Dante and began changing his clothes.

If a female player changes into other clothes, her body will be momentarily naked, which is why she is standing behind Dante.

"Won't you wear it a little longer? I think it looks really good." Dante said regretfully, rubbing his chin. He genuinely thought so.

Then the sounds behind him suddenly ceased. Just when Dante thought Mitte had changed his clothes, he heard Mitte muttering softly behind him.

"...I'll wear it again tomorrow, and...I'll wear it again whenever I have the chance in the future."

A few "whoosh" sounds rang out, and when Mit came out again, he had changed back into his combat gear, his purple ponytail tied up high, still looking as handsome as ever.

"Great!!! Let's go grab some late-night snacks to celebrate!" Argo cheered, raising his fist in response.

“Oh!” Silica, Lisbeth, Lingyin, and Xiaochun responded enthusiastically.

“Oh,” the others echoed, and then they headed toward a tavern that Argo had recommended.

-----------------

A restaurant in the main street of the seventh floor, "Recusio," has been booked by the largest guild in Aincrad.

Two players, one in green and one in blue, guarded the entrance, while all the officers inside were gathered together, arguing fiercely.

“Ha, I don’t need your charity!” Lind shouted, waving his left arm violently.

He had already narrowly lost the election for president, and the person Linde was yelling at was the newly elected president, Tooth King.

"Hmph! I know, but I'm not wrong. After becoming the guild leader, I will actively help the lower-level players. That's definitely not wrong. With them constantly joining the front lines, there's hope for conquering SAO." Ya Wang didn't touch the money bag pushed towards Linde on the table.

"This is also the right path that Diabel acknowledges." To this day, Ya Wang still clearly remembers when he told Diabel that he wanted to help lower-level players catch up with the strategy group's progress, Diabel smiled and encouraged him, saying, "Then do it."

"You still dare to mention Mr. Tidiabel's name! You're the one who caused his death!" In a fit of rage, Linde rushed forward and grabbed the King of Fang by the collar, but when he tried to go any further, he was stopped by the purple pop-up within the circle.

The players behind Linde were instantly enraged, and all the officers who were sitting in their seats stood up excitedly.

The players behind Ya Wang were all new faces who had recently joined—they were all newly promoted players. After looking at each other, these people also stood up and confronted Linde's people.

"I don't deny that. I should have stayed behind to cover the retreat." Even the stubborn Ya Wang had to lower his head at this moment.

"Since you know you should go to the Black Iron Palace and commit suicide in front of the stone tablet with the player's name on it to atone for your sins!" Lin De wished he could use the most vile words to insult the other party.

“I will repent. But if I die now, it would be a waste of the life that Diabel saved.” The King of Fangs grabbed Lind’s wrist and shouted.

"Enough!" Lin De shoved Ya Wang away, his disappointment mixed with resentment. "As expected, we're still incompatible. I have nothing to say to you."

As for the vice-president position proposed by Ya Wang, he had absolutely no interest in it, and Lin De felt disgusted to be in the same guild as Ya Wang.

Before leaving, he shouted to the members of the Fang King guild, "It was the Fang King's reckless attack on the Boss that led to the deaths of twenty-five people, including Guild Master Diabel. If you have any shame, you should leave this guild!"

"Linde!" Ya Wang roared, glaring at Linde.

"Humph!"

After saying that, Lin De ignored Ya Wang's final expression and left with his men.

-----------------

"The largest guild in Aincrad has split and reorganized!" "The seventh floor raid is progressing smoothly, and a raid meeting will be held soon."

This is the headline of the latest issue of the Argo Weekly.

On the fifth day, as the event was drawing to a close, Dante heard that Lind had led about twenty players to break away from the Aincrad Alliance established by Diabel and create his own guild called "Dragon Journey".

It is said that the guild members all wear blue-toned clothing and use a dragon as the guild's symbol.

"Linde has agreed to hold a strategy meeting in Reccio tomorrow evening." Argo sat on the table, crossed his legs, leaned back, and turned his face slightly to the left to look at Dante, who was sitting in the chair.

"Hmm." Dante put down his newspaper and nodded.

"Where's Ya-o?" Asuna, who was sitting on the sofa with the others, asked.

"They've returned to the first floor, but it seems that besides Lind who left, the guild has lost a large number of members. Currently, it appears that Fang and his group are trying to use the name of the Aincrad Alliance to organize players on a large scale to do something, and they also seem to be actively promoting a policy of hunting down criminal players, and they have occupied the Black Iron Palace." After crossing his legs, Argo turned around and looked directly at Asuna as he replied.

She found a perfect word to describe it: "Well, it gives you the feeling of forming an army."

Chapter 148: A Historic Day Since the Casino's Opening

"Is it really okay to just leave it alone?" Asuna was slightly worried.

"Don't worry about him. We've already reached the seventh level. The players who truly have the courage to leave are no longer in the 'Town of Beginnings.' No matter what the Fang King does, it won't make any difference," Dante said, waving his hand.

Some players treat going outside the town to kill monsters as "work" or "mission," while others treat it as "a game."

These two mindsets are completely different. Work can make people bored, and eventually there is no sense of urgency or great fear. In the end, all you want to do is hide in town. On the other hand, the mindset of playing games will release dopamine, which makes people happy, as well as adrenaline, which makes people feel excited.

Most players who remain in "Starting Town" belong to the former category; without a good mental attitude, it's difficult to become a top-tier player.

At least the girls in the guild treat SAO as a game, and with a little mental training, they'll be fine.

In Dante's view, the way Ya-Oh led the remaining guild members back to the first floor didn't seem like he was planning to start over with a large number of new players to conquer SAO. Rather, it seemed more like he was running away.

Whether the guild's internal atmosphere will evolve into that of the "army" in the original timeline remains to be seen.

Dante picked up the Argonautical Weekly again and glanced at it. Besides the report that they had successfully reached the end of the Windward Path and were now conquering the dungeon area, the newspaper also contained an invitation to participate in a conquest tournament.

He didn't mention anything about the King of Fangs; this was the result of his discussion with Argo.

Newspapers should maintain a certain level of credibility. While it's impossible to be truly fair, since Argo is now a member of their guild, they should still maintain relative fairness. Therefore, they shouldn't take advantage of someone's misfortune.

"Argo," Dante called out, then nudged the empty cup on the table with the back of his hand.

"Hmph—" Argo responded with a snort, opened his inventory, materialized the pale blue flower bud, and then gently tossed it into the cup.

Then he picked up the kettle next to him and filled the cup with water. As the water level in the cup slowly rose, the flower buds at the bottom began to float up.

The next second, a series of subtle and pleasant "whoosh" and "slap slap" sounds rang out.

In five seconds, the translucent, water-colored bud had fully bloomed. The opened flower had a very special shape, with hexagonal petals protruding in six directions. When viewed from directly above, it looked exactly like a snow crystal.

Meanwhile, a layer of mist appeared on the side of the cup, and the flowers inside became increasingly transparent.

"Snow Tree Buds," a special item that Argo found from who-knows-where, turns water into ice water with a slight minty scent when dropped into it. On this floor where the weather is like midsummer, the significance of this item is exaggerated to be like pouring a glass of water for a traveler who is about to die of thirst in the desert, not to mention that ice is a luxury in Aincrad.

"Hmm!" Argo grabbed the cup and placed it on the edge of the table very close to Dante, his eyes seeming to say: Here you go, drink it!

"Thank you." Dante said his thanks, and seeing Argo drink the rest of the ice water in his glass and then pour himself another glass, he couldn't help but smile.

The indescribable feeling of the extremely cold liquid sliding down the back of the throat and gradually seeping into the body, which was somewhat hot from the summer heat, was truly exhilarating.

"Ha—" Argo let out a very long sigh after drinking the ice water. Expecting her to be a lady was not a realistic possibility at all.

However, more than the cooling effect, Dante values ​​the two small icons that have been next to the HP bar since the beginning. One is the familiar HP recovery icon, which appears after drinking a healing potion. The other is a shield icon with a fire emblem, which provides rare fire resistance.

Fire resistance is a special attack buff against the seventh-floor boss, the fire dragon. Argo knew this, which is why he went to great lengths to collect this item.

After the break, Dante checked the number of people present again and then solemnly said, "The ninth game is coming up... which is also our last bet. We need to cash out our chips and take them out safely after winning this last game."

"After Yuna and Ashura handed over the chips they won to Mitt, they quickly left, while the others, along with Liting, led them to the main street 'Recusio'."

"What a pity. I was really looking forward to seeing what it would feel like to see all the prizes wiped out," Yuna said with a mischievous grin, seemingly eager to witness the casino staff's shocked expressions.

"Little Yuna, let's not make things worse. Neither of us is level ten yet." Ashurai advised Yuna, his left hand slightly closed.

“Yes, yes—”

"I'm leaving it to you. Follow Argo's advice," Asuna instructed her guildmates.

"Don't worry, Miss Asuna." "Yes, leave it to us." "Don't worry, Asuna."

"Hail..." Argo made a sound effect while making gestures, then jumped off the table with a "whoosh," and patted his chest twice to assure them, "With me here, they're safe."

-----------------

In the ninth round, Dante exchanged 30,000 chips, or three million Cors, for a ticket. Even though he was about to leave, Dante remained very cautious, hoping to leave before the other party had time to react.

This time, instead of wearing any fancy formal attire, he went into battle fully armed, ensuring he could draw his two-handed sword at the first opportunity.

Dante checked the odds table of the Scroll of Victory one last time. According to the scroll, the monster named "Triangular Terror Lizard" should win against "Mountain Rock Dragon".