A journey to another world starting from a sword

But at this moment, all she could see was her staring at the pure white giant peak standing on the pale green plate, her eyes immediately shining brightly, and then she exclaimed in an excited voice:

Wow~ This looks amazing!

“Trembling Strawberry Cake…” Holding a fork, Mitt pondered for a moment, “I remember there was a huge monster on the second floor called ‘Trembling Cow’.”

The cake's name includes the prefix "tremble," which clearly originates from the terrifying monster that roams this grassland—a creature with a body nearly twice the size of a bull, making one seriously doubt whether it can actually produce milk.

The cake in front of him was probably made with a lot of this cow's milk, and the thought of that made Mitt lose his appetite.

“Shortcake?” Silica repeated the word after Mitt, then stared at the cake.

The imposing sight of a large scoop of whipped cream standing on a big plate is hardly reminiscent of a "short cake".

“No, Silica-chan,” Asuna said with a gentle smile. “Shortcake means a cake with a crisp texture made by shortening.”

In Japan, they simply used a soft sponge cake instead. It's hard to tell what kind of cake this is, but you can guess that it's undoubtedly a Japanese-style Western dessert.

"Let's try it first."

As soon as Asuna finished speaking, the next second four forks were placed on the four sides of the cake pyramid, each cutting off an area of ​​about seventy or eighty cubic centimeters.

Once cut open, the golden sponge cake is immediately visible through the cross-section.

It appears to be a four-layer structure consisting of sponge cake, cream with strawberry pieces, another layer of sponge cake, and another layer of cream with strawberry pieces.

Of course, a large pile of bright red strawberry-like berries were also placed directly above them. In the game, for convenience, everyone basically just called them strawberries.

"I still prefer sponge cake."

Asuna finished speaking and then smiled brightly, a smile that was exceptionally beautiful.

"I wonder if it can be replicated."

Dante's words made her lower her head and fall into deep thought, and a thought that had once crossed her mind resurfaced.

"...Dante, you mentioned it before, right? This game has a cooking skill."

“Yes.” Dante nodded, then looked at her expectantly.

"With the current ingredients, it would be difficult to replicate this," the pragmatist Mitt retorted. "Besides, we don't have enough skill slots available right now."

She has learned three skills: "Scythe", "Flying Sword" and "Weapon Defense". Asuna should be about the same. Even Silica learned dungeon exploration skills at that man's suggestion.

"Hmm, no rush," Dante said with a grin, then raised his right hand and shouted to the NPC waiter, "Um, three more cakes, please."

"Mmm!" Asuna nodded and smiled again, her alluring lips pursed.

Just then, the restaurant doorbell rang, drawing the attention of the four people inside.

“Miss Argo!” Asuna looked at the newcomer in surprise.

"Yo~, Argo! We meet again." Argo pulled down her hood, stretched, and walked over. After seeing the huge cake on the table, she turned to Dante. "I received your message when I was on the first floor, and I rushed over immediately."

Nodding, Dante called out to the NPC waiter again, "Another cake, please!"

“Hehe…” Argo gave him a “you’re pretty smart” look, and the mustache he drew on his face twitched.

"So, what's the reason Miss Argo came here?" Mitt asked with concern, glancing at Dante. After all, with her, a closed beta tester, present, Argo's value as an intelligence provider wasn't as high as it used to be for their team.

"Shouldn't we ask the guy who called me over first?" Argo found a chair and sat down.

Asuna looked at Dante curiously, "Is something the matter?"

Do you know the Boss in the training area?

Mito certainly knew this, so Dante asked Asuna.

"What is that?" Asuna asked, tilting her head.

"Hmm..." Dante immediately looked at Mitt, wanting her to explain.

“Ha.” After a brief sigh, Mitt began to explain.

In the training areas outside the circles of each level of Aincrad, each key point is equipped with something called a "training area boss" or "wilderness boss," which are monsters with special names.

Most of these monsters are guardians on the way to the maze area, and the habitat of the wild area boss will always include cliffs, rapids or other impassable areas. By design, you can't reach the maze tower without defeating the boss.

In other words, even the seemingly spacious first floor is actually divided into several areas.

Argo then took over the conversation, and the information Dante hoped to get from her was—

Information on the central jungle boss, Bull Bau, who divides the second layer into a wide northern and narrow southern region!

Chapter 57: I Want to Watch You

There is only one boss in the second level of the wilderness.

The name "Ballhead Bull Bau" probably comes from its ball-shaped bow-like lower jaw. The Boss will use its round, protruding lower jaw to launch a series of oppressive charging attacks.

The original purpose of the spherical bow was to allow the ship to cut through the waves and absorb the impact of the waves while sailing. It is a circular protrusion located below the waterline at the bow.

Back when navies around the world were still using wooden warships, there was a similar design in shape and position called a ram, although the two are not the same thing.

"So that's what you were after!" Mite's eyes widened. He had guessed something from the beginning, but he was still shocked when he finally confirmed it.

“Right. That’s really… bold.” Argo nodded in agreement, looking at Dante as well. “Even I was surprised when I first saw his message.”

“We were just too cautious before,” Dante analyzed without changing his expression. “We’ve been on the first floor for a whole month. Even if we grind monsters in the nearby training area now, the leveling efficiency will be very low. We should focus on the bosses and the floor maze.”

The total amount of money dropped by the boss is fixed. If distributed equally, the fewer people there are, the more money they will receive.

The massive amount of experience points it possesses will be distributed to the participating players according to the proportion of damage dealt to the Boss or damage blocked. However, if you don't interact with the Boss at all during the entire battle, you will definitely not gain any experience points.

Therefore, during the first phase of the campaign, no one was willing to accept the task of staying in the rear.

At the same time, the phenomenon of greatly increasing skill proficiency only occurs when facing powerful enemies, and of course, it only happens when directly fighting a boss.

In conclusion, defeating the boss is undoubtedly a very worthwhile endeavor.

"And I promised you I'd get to the Boss's room within a week." He smiled, raising one corner of his mouth as he said this.

"Can we really manage on our own?" Young Silica asked with a hint of worry.

“Yes, that’s possible.” Mitt placed his hands on the table and thought seriously. “Generally, a single elite squad is enough to kill a wild area boss.”

Silica felt that the raiding force for the first-floor boss, the kobold lord, consisted of more than forty people, and that their small group seemed a bit small.

But Mitt explained that the difficulty of wild area bosses is usually set so that they can be defeated without forming a joint force.

The four of them weren't low-level; Dante, Asuna, and she were already level 11, and Silica was about to reach level 10. Coupled with their weapons and armor upgraded to near their maximum capacity, their strength far surpassed that of full-strength player teams.

If you want to go further, the Cor dropped by the first-floor boss can also be converted into some combat power.

Of course, the key to successfully defeating the boss is that everyone truly understands the boss's attack patterns and weaknesses, and is also able to cooperate with each other.

"Argo will fill in the intelligence gaps." This was also the reason Dante summoned Argo.

“Well, I’ve made a paper version.” Argo said, handing several parchment scrolls to Dante. “The first draft of the strategy guide should be finished tomorrow. I’ve already listed the boss’s information and routes separately.”

"Thank you." Dante took it, looked it over carefully, and then handed it to the others.

“It’s a deal. Let me just go over it verbally a bit more.” Argo, who indicated that it was no big deal, then demonstrated the professionalism of an information broker by emphasizing the information about the Boss.

The Bull Bau, which looks like a giant black Wagyu bull, is very large, like a small mountain, but it basically only uses a simple attack pattern of charging, turning around, and charging again.

Among bosses, they are relatively easy to deal with.

If you're going to take it down with two squads, the most orthodox way is for the tank units to continuously draw its attacks and try to avoid its advance, while the attacking units deal damage from the flanks.

To reduce it to a small squad, you would need at least two tanks, plus three to four top-notch attackers.

"The squad's tanks can call on Agil to temporarily form a team," Dante decided after a moment's thought.

“Agil,” Mite nodded, recalling Agil’s performance in the Boss strategy group at noon. “That person should be able to help, and seems quite reliable.”

"Hmm, let him bring another tank player along. In case I need to temporarily act as a tank in the future," Dante said, pounding his fist on his chest.

The "Wilderness Silver Wolf" armor, crafted from leather materials dropped by wolf-type wilderness bosses, combined with the "Midnight Coat," a reward from floor bosses in LA, provides him with defensive capabilities comparable to a typical tank.

His two-handed sword, which emphasizes power, allows him to be the main source of damage, making his role very flexible.

“The four of us will handle the damage output, and Agil and the others will take care of the defense… That works.” Based on his experience during the closed beta, Mitt felt that Dante’s plan was perfectly feasible, and the smile that usually graced his face returned.

It had been a long time since she had collaborated with others in a game to discuss how to overcome difficult challenges. This long-lost and simple joy that she gained from the game made her very happy.

Unlike with Asuna, who mostly followed her orders, this time the entire team was involved in the discussion, and a certain "rat" was listening in, occasionally offering his own opinions.

It was as if they had truly arrived in a fantasy world of swords and magic, formed an adventure team, made detailed plans for tomorrow's battle, and then fantasized about what kind of treasure they and their companions would obtain after defeating powerful enemies.

This is... the real adventure!

For a moment, she even felt grateful to Kayaba Akihiko, who created this world. Although inviting Asuna to SAO had long been a nightmare she couldn't shake off, Mito didn't regret participating in the closed beta test until the death game officially started, nor did she feel that being selected was an unfortunate misfortune.

Therefore, she was incredibly grateful to the man before her who had brought her that initial feeling of being moved, Dante.

There are many other things to be thankful for, and there is certainly a long "unknown road" ahead for them, but Mitt also wants to see how far this man can go. If he stops because of difficulties, she hopes to be able to help him.

In a daze, she seemed to see her own reflection in the things gazed upon by those beautiful, obsidian-like eyes.

"..." Asuna blinked, noticing Mito staring silently at Dante. Then, seeing Dante tilt his head slightly in confusion, she asked, "Mito?"

“Huh? Hmm, it’s nothing.” Mito shook his head at Asuna and then said, “Let’s do it this way. You don’t have Agil’s friend yet, I’ll take care of contacting him.”

“Okay.” Dante nodded with a smile, then turned to Argo and asked another question, “Argo, do you know how to get to the platform at the top of the mountain?”

Urbas is a city built by hollowing out the interior of a table mountain while preserving the outer peak. Above the city, there is a suspended rock platform in the center of the mountaintop, connected by seven stone bridges extending from the outer peak.

The reason why this rock mass, which is one meter thick and more than ten meters in diameter, did not fall onto the transfer gate plaza below is probably because this is a game, since Aincrad has no magic.

"Why are you asking this?" Argo didn't give a direct answer that she didn't know, because that couldn't come from the mouth of someone who prided herself on being the best information broker in SAO. So, her question was simply out of curiosity about Dante's motives.

“I have a friend named Yuna who wants to become the best 'bard' in Aincrad and hopes to find a quiet place where no one will disturb her to practice music.”

As Dante explained, Asuna and the others suddenly remembered Yuna's troubles.

In particular, Mitt was deeply moved by Dante's sudden inspiration. During the closed beta, many players, including her, racked their brains to try to climb the rock.

Everyone guessed that there must be a special NPC or a rare item chest on the rock face that revealed its bottom, but in Mitt's memory, no one had successfully reached the top within a month.

Those players who have now reached the Urbas Rock must be wondering, "What's up there?" Although Mitt no longer cares about that, she would like to know for her friends' sake.

"Oh... I understand. I'll investigate as soon as possible, and I should have news by tomorrow night at the latest."

"it is good."

By the time they left the restaurant, the streets were completely shrouded in night.

Asuna, walking beside Dante, took a deep breath, then sighed deeply and said in a low voice.

"That cake...it was delicious."

Let's eat here again next time.

Dante's suggestion was happily agreed upon by the two girls present.

Although Mitt felt that equipment was more important, he didn't say anything to spoil the mood.

Argo, with his hands behind his head, laughed and said, "It tastes much better than during the closed beta. The cream melts in your mouth, and the texture is neither too sweet nor too greasy."

As she spoke, she jogged forward a couple of steps and nudged Dante's waist with her elbow. "Thank you for the treat. Remember to invite me next time."

“I’ve got it,” Dante said briefly.

"I won't say any more, I'll be going now." Argo waved and said goodbye, as he lived in a different place from Dante and the others.

After she left, Dante and his companions returned to their lodgings, a three-story apartment building on the ground floor in a residential area east of Urbus.

Although the top two floors can also be rented, only the first floor is the most spacious, and it also has a separate dining room and bathroom.

Moreover, the doors and windows are large, and the ventilation is excellent. Urubas is a city mainly made of stone, with a somewhat rugged architectural style, reminiscent of ancient Greece.

Therefore, in order to maintain the stability of the building structure, the windows on the top two floors are very small; you could even call them prison windows.

After saying goodnight to each other, the four of them went back to their respective rooms to rest.

Before going to sleep, after practicing his swordsmanship in his room, Dante sat on the bed, intending to enter a meditative state.

Although Dante still used meditation to replace sleep, it was actually a very boring thing to do.

Because he didn't get the satisfaction that sleep brings, he always felt something was missing, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was only through this exercise that he could train his mental strength, which gave him enough motivation to persevere.

He cannot afford to relax until he gains the strength to easily defeat the final boss.

As for teaching Asuna swordsmanship, everyone was quite tired today because of their efforts to defeat the kobold lord Ilfangu.

Even Asuna herself reminded Dante, "Don't stay up late tonight, get some rest."