A journey to another world starting from a sword

“What do you mean…” Mitt argued.

Dante did not answer, but turned to look at Silica.

When Mitt followed his gaze to Silica, he understood her concerns.

The monsters that spawn in the maze area are demi-humanoid ruin kobolds, which are the same species as the swamp kobolds that occupy the center of the first level.

Their defining characteristic is their ability to use weapons, which is a significant difference between them and non-humanoid monsters.

Even on later floors, these demi-humanoid monsters wielding weapons can unleash multi-hit sword techniques, making them extremely troublesome.

During the exploration of this area, she and Dante were always at the forefront. Silica didn't actually make a move; she was simply well protected.

But if they continue forward now, Silica could become a weakness for their team, thus taking unnecessary risks.

At this moment, Mito couldn't say that he and Dante were more than capable of protecting a mere girl, because her previous boastful words had taught her a lesson enough, even causing her to lose her friend... and almost lose Asuna.

"Um, if it's because of me, I..." Silica quickly understood, a nonchalant smile appearing on her face, and she even very sensibly tried to say "go back first."

But Dante interrupted him, "Mite."

"Hmm?" Mitt looked at Dante, ready to listen to what the other had to say next.

"You teach Silica how to deal with humanoid monsters on the first floor, I'll continue to the second floor." Dante then made this decision.

"Huh?" Silica was stunned for a moment. "I'm fine."

“Okay, let’s do it that way.” Mite nodded in agreement.

She knew and understood Dante's reasons for doing so; she didn't want Silica to feel like a burden to the team.

This is undoubtedly a mistake that undermines the girl's confidence and disrupts the team's harmony and future development.

If Silica is simply allowed to return, what about next time, and the time after that? Silica herself will probably first think of escaping to a safe place to put the two of them at ease, and she will begin to doubt her role in the group.

Silica was a companion this man cherished just as much, and Mitt understood this, so she agreed to Dante's suggestion.

On the other hand, she wasn't mentally prepared for a reunion with Asuna, so was this abrupt reunion the right thing to do?

If we continue with Dante, we will inevitably have to face Asuna, and at that point, no matter what happens, there will be no turning back.

It would be better for the two of them to meet again after Asuna is brought out of the labyrinth area.

"Message me anytime if you need anything."

Dante and Mitt made a promise to Silica.

Then Mitt led Silica toward the entrance, where it would be safer to level up and practice fighting the kobolds, and they could escape quickly if anything happened.

By this time, new monsters should have already spawned on the outer perimeter.

Dante, on the other hand, walked up the steps to the upper level. He was surrounded by brown, somewhat aged bricks and stones, and the surrounding environment was illuminated only by torches on the walls, so the visibility was not low.

The style of this multi-level maze is like that of ruins, as can be seen from the prefix "ruins" in the official name of the monster, "Ruins Kobold Assault Soldier".

Upon reaching the top of the steps, the same monotonous scene unfolds before you. If you didn't have access to the map to pinpoint your location, an average player would definitely get lost.

"Humph."

Three red cursors flashed in front of Dante's field of vision. To Dante, who was already level 8, the color was at most light red, which meant that there was a certain threat.

However, considering that the kobold monsters wield crude spiked clubs, it still hurts a lot when they hit you, so try to avoid them as much as possible.

Just imagining the pain he would feel if he accidentally got hit like that later, he got goosebumps all over his body, although goosebumps are not visible in the game.

I placed my hand on the two-handed sword behind me and slowly drew it. It felt so solid and reassuring to hold.

As he walked step by step, he entered the kobolds' detection range.

When one of them turned its head to look at him and let out a nasty roar, the other two also looked at him.

If I knew the flying sword skill, I might be able to lure them over one by one, but... it wouldn't make much difference anyway.

Three kobolds roared and charged at him. Dante's eyes flashed, and he easily slashed the first kobold's attack with his two-handed sword. In the blink of an eye, the second kobold was already bleeding profusely, which was shown in red light in the game.

After twisting and spinning his sword to take down the first one, Dante then swung his sword vertically to kill the last kobold.

The battle was short-lived. Thanks to the advantage of his enhanced rare weapon, he could easily deal with these monsters even without using his sword skills.

After the battle, Dante lowered his sword, the tip touching the ground with a faint sound.

Then continue walking forward; this maze is very long and deep.

After several encounters with the kobolds, he had explored most of the labyrinth's mysteries.

Along the way, we saw an opened treasure chest, which indicates that there are other players in the maze.

It might not be Asuna, but a lone beta tester, or it could be a player squad mixed with beta testers.

The road to Tolbana opened early due to its own reasons, and the passage in the middle was also opened not long ago, so many players have already entered the town.

Dante knew that Argo, who accompanied him to conquer the bear-type boss "Antrotherium"—also known as the giant cave beast—was the first player to enter Torbana.

If he hadn't been waiting for Asuna and Mito to catch up, he probably could have explored most of the labyrinth himself.

Upon returning to another set of upward steps, Dante opened the map he had explored.

"Not on this floor either...?"

To be honest, this was somewhat beyond his expectations. Dante hadn't anticipated that Asuna, as a novice in the game, could adapt to combat so quickly and continue to delve deeper into the dungeon.

No, it's also possible that they were lucky enough to find an upward path and simply continued forward.

The target's goal is most likely the Boss's room, rather than repetitive and meaningless monster grinding.

Thinking of this, he looked up at the stairs leading to the upper level again and took a step without hesitation.

On the third floor of the labyrinth, Dante quickly detected a trace of a player.

It's simple. The frequency and number of monsters he encountered have decreased, so they probably haven't respawned in time.

Could it be Asuna?

Maybe.

That's highly likely. It's already past 11 p.m., and given the weather in Aincrad in November, it should be pitch black outside.

From where he is now, it will take him almost half an hour to get out of the maze, and then it will take at least another half an hour to get back to Torbana.

Although I was mentally prepared to spend the night in the safe zone of the maze, I still felt somewhat mentally exhausted.

It's rare... that Argo booked the luxury room so early and paid two weeks' rent in advance.

As a result, almost half of the rental period had passed, and the person still hadn't moved in.

If this were a real landlord, they'd be grinning from ear to ear right now, thinking, "How could someone be such a sucker?"

Although a thousand or so Cors is just a small amount of money for him now, he can earn that much by grinding monsters in a morning.

"Ha—" Dante chuckled softly to himself, then quickly scanned the side paths to his left and right with his target acquisition skill.

They all saw a short figure, most likely a kobold.

That means just keep moving forward.

Having made this judgment, he continued forward and did not encounter another enemy for several minutes.

Coming.

He had this premonition.

And his premonition was about to come true.

A slight rustling sound came from the air, like the sound of some hard object hitting another hard object.

In this scenario, the sound would be that of a weapon hitting the ground or a wall.

As they approached slowly, the sound grew clearer, yet it remained intermittent; it was likely several kobolds attacking a player.

Finally, in the dimly lit maze, he clearly saw a flash of light streak across the air and then quickly disappear.

It was exactly as described in my memory, truly like a shooting star.

Chapter 30: The Plan: Win Her Over Through Her Stomach

However, this meteor was not pure white; the effect of the single thrust sword technique "Linear Attack" was a color between purplish-red and pink.

Taking a few more steps forward, I could see the player's appearance clearly. The other person was slender and petite.

The outfit consisted of a dark red leather long-short blouse with a lightweight bronze breastplate, and fitted leather trousers and knee-high boots.

Although the other person had pulled down her waist-length hooded cloak to cover her head, obscuring her face, Dante knew that she was Asuna.

At this moment, Asuna was attacking the kobolds with lightning speed, engaging in a fierce battle.

After easily dodging the kobolds' heavy attacks, she lightly brandished her rapier, aiming the blade at one of them, and unleashed the sword technique that Dante had just witnessed.

She knocked down the low-health kobold in one strike, then quickly dodged the pursuit of several other kobolds and moved away into the distance.

However, the direction of movement was exactly the same as Dante's direction, and Dante was not hiding in the shadows, but standing in the middle of the road.

This made it easy for Asuna to spot him, and she visibly paused.

"Be careful." Seeing this, Dante warned her to stop, as this was extremely dangerous when facing an enemy.

Reminded in time, Asuna immediately realized what was happening, but began to move to the side instead of bringing the kobolds to Dante's front. It seemed she intended to deal with the monsters alone.

The atmosphere of the battle was tense and intense, but Asuna defeated the ruin kobold, a formidable enemy in the first level of Aincrad, almost without sustaining any injuries.

However, this doesn't seem to be an easy battle for her either.

After killing the last kobold, Asuna stood there, panting heavily towards the ceiling. Her short, forceful breaths could be clearly heard in the quiet and enclosed environment of the labyrinth.

By the light, Dante could see the other person's delicate chin and panting mouth.

Noticing his approaching footsteps, Asuna's shoulders trembled slightly, and she lowered her head to pull her hood down.

"A very exciting battle. You're already considered one of the strongest players on the front lines," Dante said, clapping lightly.

Asuna, on the other hand, turned her head in the opposite direction, as if trying to appear indifferent, or perhaps to pretend to be a stranger, with the most important thing being to avoid any conversation.

Ignoring her "I don't want to talk" expression, Dante walked to a distance of three meters from her.

Have you eaten yet?

"..." Asuna was stunned, probably not expecting the other party to say such a thing, but she still lowered her voice and said coldly.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

In other words, we are not familiar with each other.

As soon as she finished speaking, Asuna saw the other person with their hands in front of their chest, tilting their head and looking at her with a look of helplessness and mockery in their eyes.

"Not only have we met, but we've also eaten together. Oh, and I even saved your life."

"Hmm..." Now that things had come to this, Asuna couldn't keep up the act any longer, so she sighed softly and greeted him, "Yes, Mr. Dante, we meet again."

"Well, I'm relieved to see that you're still alive, Miss Asuna." Without continuing the teasing, Dante smiled easily at Asuna.

"Well..." Asuna was about to say goodbye, but then she felt that it would be too harsh on her savior, so she changed the subject, "You've seen Silica-chan, haven't you?"

"Yes, I see you."

She also received two gifts, a white cloak and a black cloak, which Silica said she bought along with Asuna.

It has a very simple design. The original purpose of the cloak was simply to block the wind, keep warm, and protect against the cold. On Asuna, it became a protective gear that she wore because she didn't want to come into contact with other people.

Even Silica wore the cloak because she didn't want to be noticed by others. Under her protection, the child became like a little squirrel.

"That's good..." Asuna breathed a short sigh of relief after hearing that Silica had reunited with the other party safely.

They briefly ended the conversation and fell silent, gazing at each other.

Asuna was the first to shift her attention, pulling her hood up again as if to say, "Then I'll take my leave."

"By the way, have you eaten?" Dante brought the conversation back to the beginning, which was part of his plan.

"Huh?" Asuna was stunned again. "Ah, not yet."

She politely told the truth, but then immediately added, "I'm not hungry right now."

"It's almost eight o'clock now," Dante said, indicating that it was well past dinner time. "I haven't eaten yet either, shall we grab something to eat together?"

Then Asuna followed the other person to the corner of the wall without really understanding what was going on, and sat down with her back against the wall, with about a meter between them.

Why is this happening?