A journey to another world starting from a sword

If the monster is much higher level than you, and is the kind you can't beat no matter how hard you try, the cursor above its head will be a dark red color, even darker than blood.

Conversely, if it's a trash monster that you can defeat no matter how many times you defeat it, the cursor will be a light pinkish-white color.

Enemies of similar level are indicated by bright red.

"Hey, isn't that the man-eating plant?" Asuna pointed to the jungle path behind Mito.

In the jungle, a group of monsters with pitcher plant-like bodies and countless wriggling tree roots at their lower parts were moving in groups. Sharp-leaved, curling vines grew on their left and right sides and on top of them, and their predatory "mouths" on their heads dripped sticky liquid as they opened and closed.

“Yes, yes.” Mito, his fighting spirit rising, laughed at Asuna, then gripped his scythe tightly. “I heard you. Never attack individuals with Devil Fruits.”

"OK!"

Then the two of them rushed along the mountain path toward the carnivorous plant monsters in the mountain jungle.

Mito, who was charging ahead, turned around and shouted to Asuna, "A surprise attack from behind against an opponent who has no eyes is almost impossible."

"So we're going to attack head-on, right?" Asuna had an expression that said, "That's exactly what I wanted," and was full of fighting spirit.

Just as the two approached the carnivorous plants, the plants also noticed their presence at the same time.

Asuna rushed towards the closest one on the right, which raised its two vines high as if to intimidate her.

It roared from its predator and then stabbed at her with the vines on its right.

The small carnivorous plant attacks by using its vines, which turn into short swords at the front, to slash or thrust, or by spraying corrosive liquid from its mouth. It is much smarter than a wild boar that only charges forward.

Asuna instantly saw through its attack trajectory, jumped to the left to dodge its thrust, then circled around to its side and stabbed with her sword at the junction of the pot-shaped part and the stem, which looked like a weak point.

The sword felt real in hand, and the man-eating plant's HP dropped by more than 20% in an instant.

The plant let out another angry cry, and then its pot-shaped part swelled up as if it were about to spray something.

And that is indeed the case. This is the preparatory action for launching the corrosive liquid, which has a range of five meters. Even if you jump directly backward, you can't dodge it.

But Asuna easily dodged it.

Mitt said that if you get sprayed with this corrosive liquid, not only will the durability of your weapons and armor be greatly reduced, but you will also be temporarily unable to move due to its strong stickiness.

Therefore, she was extra careful. Then Asuna pulled the sword back forcefully again and used the momentary charging action to unleash her sword technique. At this moment, the sword began to be surrounded by a light orange light.

"...Ouch!"

The first rapier-type sword technique I learned, the single-shot thrusting sword technique "Linear Attack," can now be used very skillfully.

The sword pierced through the stem of the man-eating plant in an instant. Of course, she also used the external skills that Mitt mentioned to maximize the power of her sword technique.

When the sword tip emerged from the other end of the hilt, the resistance disappeared, and the smooth feel instantly amazed her. No matter how many times she tried, she was always amazed by the realism of the game.

The remaining HP bar of the man-eating plant turned completely red and began to decrease rapidly from the right side. As it reached zero, the small man-eating plant's huge body stiffened and then exploded.

Immediately afterwards, Asuna lowered the drawn sword from her right hand and began searching for her next target.

A casual glance revealed several more small man-eating plant cursors, while Mitt was engaged in combat nearby.

Immediately, the carnivorous plant closest to her turned its "gaze" to her. Although the carnivorous plant did not have eyes, she could definitely sense it.

The next second, the light of the sword technique flashed again.

Because if you hesitate for even half a second, you'll probably be attacked by it.

Through these days of battles, Asuna has gradually developed her own combat awareness. For example, when facing an attack from multiple monsters, she should not hesitate but strike first, just like she is doing now.

“Yes, yes. Keep it up.” Mito glanced at Asuna’s battle and gave her a sincere thumbs up.

"Yes, at this rate we can wipe them all out soon," Asuna said cheerfully.

Even though they were surrounded, this number of enemies was no problem for them.

They and Mitt could kill them very easily.

Just then, Mitt caught a glimpse of a small silhouette at the edge of his field of vision.

...What is that?

Beneath the shade created by the tree canopy lurked a monster known as the "Swift Ratman".

"Ah—" Mitt opened his mouth slightly and exhaled the surprise in his heart.

The reason is that this monster called "Swift Ratman" is a rare monster that is rarely seen in SAO.

It's not that it's that difficult to deal with, but killing it will drop powerful and rare items!

In stark contrast to the thief on the fifth floor who looks remarkably similar to the "Cunning Ratman," this one is like a wealthy man with jewels in his pocket, truly deserving the title of "Treasure Rat"!

If I can get the rare items that drop, my strength might improve further, and I'll be able to protect Asuna even better.

“One of them went over to your side.” Upon hearing Asuna’s reminder, Mitt briefly shifted his gaze away from the “Swift Ratman.”

However... he could no longer suppress his thoughts, because the rare item was right in front of him, within his grasp if he simply reached out.

When she saw the "Swift Ratman" turn its back to her and start walking away, Mito panicked and hurriedly called out to Asuna, "Asuna, wait for me a moment! I've found a very rare monster; it might drop rare equipment..."

The "Swift Ratman" in their sight was already moving away from them on its short legs, like a child learning to walk.

"I want to defeat it!"

"I understand, leave this to me." Asuna nodded understandingly, because Mito definitely understood the game better than she did, and there must be a reason why she made this decision.

After hearing Asuna's words, Mito turned around without any further hesitation and chased after the fleeing ratman.

Chapter 18: The Broken Oath

Having caught up with the Swift Ratman, Mitt's only thought at that moment was to defeat it quickly and then reunite with Asuna.

But no matter what, he couldn't hit her. Despite continuously unleashing sword techniques and wielding his scythe, the ratman always managed to dodge at the perfect moment before being hit. He truly lived up to his name.

"Damn it!" Biting his lip, Mitt's heart was filled with resentment.

This time, he approached stealthily, his back bent, and swept his sickle horizontally.

They dodged it again!

Does it have eyes in the back of its head?!

As a closed beta tester, Mit felt his pride was being challenged.

The ratmen were still lurking right under her nose, at a distance that seemed within arm's reach.

snort!

In that case...

When his sneak attack failed, Mitt opted for a direct assault, gripping his scythe tightly with both hands and unleashing a furious barrage of attacks.

The purple sword technique effect light enveloped the entire space, constantly squeezing the small monster's room to dodge.

One day, the scythe accidentally grazed the ratman's body, causing its movements to pause slightly; this is what is known as paralysis.

good chance!

A joyful sound rose in Mitt's heart as he unleashed his sword technique once more. This time, he didn't miss; the scythe struck the ratman's body squarely, cleaving him in two.

"Wind Flower Sword".

The results window displays the item's name; judging from the icon, it should be a rapier.

Great, now Asuna can use it.

As for the other item, the "Tattered Cloak," which should be called a tattered cloak, it should also be a decent piece of equipment.

Suppressing her excitement, she looked away from the window, intending to hurry back and meet up with Asuna.

"...Huh?" Where am I?

She looked up at the cliff in front of her and fell into deep thought.

On the other hand, Asuna did not fall into a difficult battle because of Mito's departure.

A high level is only one reason.

She deftly pierced the carnivorous plant in front of her, and its HP dropped to zero in no time.

She then checked that her HP bar was still within a safe range and was showing green.

If it falls halfway down, it will turn yellow; if it reaches the bottom, it will turn red.

But just in case, she took out a low-grade healing potion from her pouch and sipped it slowly.

At the same time, a buff icon appeared next to the HP bar, indicating that health was slowly being restored.

In SAO, healing potions don't restore HP instantly; you have to wait until it's fully healed. This tests the player's patience, and drinking a second potion during the duration of the healing effect has no effect.

The only items that can provide an immediate response are "crystal" items that can be obtained from higher levels.

However, to be fair, the taste of low-level healing potions is truly indescribable; it has a cheap herbal flavor and is hardly palatable.

Mite said that the best-tasting potions are only found on the upper levels, and since there's no other way, we have to drink this.

While mentally complaining about how awful the potion tasted, Asuna wondered why Mito hadn't returned yet.

Is that little rat-man some kind of difficult monster to deal with?

She used her sword skill again to kill the man-eating plant with its remaining health, and seeing that her vision was now empty, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"call......"

Even without Mitt's return, she had already slaughtered the carnivorous plants around her.

Just then, Mitt's cheerful voice came from behind.

"I got the props."

"That's great." Asuna turned around and waved to Mito in the distance.

There were several monsters behind her. She casually moved her rapier to her chest, the tip pointing at the nearest man-eating plant that was already low on health.

Mito stood there, watching Asuna's increasingly skillful sword techniques, and smiled with satisfaction.

Despite being terrible at playing fighting games with me in real life, I never expected her to be so good at controlling her body in combat.

Perhaps it's because of her exceptional athletic ability, but Asuna is surprisingly talented.

Her quick movements and precise aim were unlike anything a novice could do, but what shocked Mitt the most was her terrifying "intuition".

In SAO, where virtual beings are manipulated to fight in the same way as physical bodies, judgment, insight, and action—or what we might call perception—are more essential than anything else.

When attacking, you need to launch a fierce offensive; when defending, you need to hold firm. This is very difficult for beginners.

However, within just two weeks of starting her training, Asuna was already able to defeat her opponents without taking any damage in one-on-one battles against monsters of the same or lower level.

The rapier she chose was very light, and most of her sword techniques were thrusting attacks with a certain range. However, it was almost impossible to use the slender blade to block enemy attacks. She could only dodge attacks by parrying or jumping. Undoubtedly, it was a skill-based weapon.

But Asuna's dance-like movements as she toyed with monsters, along with her repeated high-speed thrusting attacks, sometimes captivated even herself, a former beta tester.

Even now, without her around, she can handle those man-eating plants perfectly well.

With a smile, Mitt turned to look at the remaining three man-eating plants, and only then did she notice the last one.

There was a huge, blocky object shaking on the monster's prey.

At the top of that slender stem is a round ball about twenty centimeters in diameter—that is the "fruit".

If you slightly damage that spherical object that looks like an inflated balloon about to burst, it will actually explode on the spot and release a smelly smoke.

Then a large swarm of crazed man-eating plants will be attracted by the smoke, and even if she and Asuna have leveled up, they will be trapped in a predicament from which they cannot escape.

From Asuna's perspective, she couldn't see that the second carnivorous plant, hiding behind the first one, was carrying fruit. Her sword technique would then kill the first, weakened carnivorous plant and directly hit the second one.

"Asuna! Stop!" Mito shouted in terror.

Unfortunately, it was too late; once a sword skill is activated, it cannot be forcibly canceled.

Hearing Mito's shout, Asuna turned around to look at him in confusion.

"what?"

At that moment, the rapier in her hand, which was flashing with sword skill effects, seemed to go out of control, pulling her body forward violently.

"Wait...!"

No matter how hard you try to stop yourself by pushing off the ground with your feet, it doesn't work.

The rapier easily pierced the man-eating plant with its remaining blood, and the motion assist system began to target the next one directly in front of it.

A purple torrent pierced through the mouth of the man-eating fruit plant, and the HP bar smoothly dwindled to the bottom.