A journey to another world starting from a sword

But... suddenly Dante felt a gaze fixed on him. He initially thought it was Mito and the others hiding in the shadows, but it actually felt like it was coming from the air.

"What's wrong?" Asuna noticed that Dante had stopped and wasn't following, so she turned around and asked.

Looking at Asuna and Kizmel, whose expressions remained unchanged, he realized that he was the only one who felt this way.

Could it be that it has alerted the world's consciousness? But SAO's world level is very low; it's more like a set of programs than an intelligent "star soul."

If they had truly sensed something amiss, Asuna and Kizmel wouldn't have been so friendly to her. Being rejected by the world would mean being hated by all living beings in it.

By disguising themselves and acting within the rules, they usually go unnoticed. But if they act violently, they will be seen as enemies from another planet and attacked by the world's "heroes" or "warriors".

He was not clear about what was happening, but he felt like he was being watched from all angles by a surveillance camera.

Just as Dante was hesitating, Kizmel suddenly looked around and shouted, "Who's there?!"

"Who?" Asuna, seeing that Kismer's last gaze was not directed in the direction of Mito, also assumed a fighting stance.

"!" Dante snapped out of his daze. The feeling of being scanned had disappeared, as if it had been an illusion. He then turned his gaze toward the tree trunk that Asuna was looking at.

"It's me, it's me." A familiar figure emerged from behind the tree, raising his hands.

"So it was Kirito-san." Asuna breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her hand from the hilt of her sword.

"Dante, Asuna, is this stranger someone you know?" Kizmel retracted his left foot, but his right hand still gripped the saber.

“It’s someone I know.” After explaining to Kizmel, Dante waved to Kirito, “Why did you come here?”

Okay, that's a silly question, the problem is that the two of them can't say it outright.

So you're here to do the elf quest too?

Oh, right, you are too.

Such a conversation couldn't happen, so Dante and Kirito exchanged glances and nodded to each other. However, as they approached, Kirito glanced at Kizmel with some confusion. Shouldn't the dark elf older sister have been killed off by the plot during the closed beta?

Then Asuna called out Mito and Silica, and introduced them to Kizmel.

This made Kirito wonder, since the NPCs during the closed beta didn't have such advanced dialogue capabilities.

"Did Diabel go to Zmfurt?" Dante asked.

"That's right." Kirito nodded in agreement in response to Dante's question, then scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Speaking of which, when we were in the Boss's room earlier, didn't you speak up for me in front of Diabel?"

"You guessed?" Dante did not deny it, but instead laughed.

"Do you know how many times Ya-o looked at me from the beginning to the middle of the journey?" Kirito deduced this by thinking that Ya-o must have realized something from looking at him like that.

"You've really worked hard," Dante said, looking at Kirito with sympathy.

"Well..." Kirito just shrugged, then he operated the game window, opened the trading interface, and traded an item to Dante.

"This is... your LA reward?" Dante asked, looking at the boxer shorts in his inventory.

"Yes, it's not a big gift, but I wanted to express my gratitude," Kirito nodded.

"...Forget it." After clicking the refuse button, Dante chuckled at Kirito, "Keep your spoils safe."

Although boxer shorts are a very rare "underwear" slot, they can increase strength and resistance to illness and curse-related negative effects.

But he knew that the back of these dark red boxer shorts had a large, shiny gold bull's head printed on it!

Of course, style wasn't the main reason, but Ding spoke up for Kirito more to prevent the strategy group from excluding individual player groups, rather than to get thanks.

He was destined not to join Diabel's guild due to his own reasons, so at least he couldn't let some petty scoundrel ruin the facade of unity.

Seeing that Dante had clearly refused, Kirito lowered his head, which was covered by a helmet, shook it from side to side, and then said, "I owe you one."

Dante chuckled and said, "I'll remember what you said."

"Mm." Kirito nodded solemnly and turned to leave. He planned to search other parts of the forest to see if he could encounter another pair of dark elf sisters and forest elf brothers fighting, and then trigger the quest.

“Kizmer, may I take my companions with me to the camp to take a look?”

On the other side, Asuna was saying things that Mito couldn't stop in time. To be honest, Mito was also surprised that the elf NPC in front of him was so intelligent. Could it be that the database used by the NPC's automatic response program was expanded in response to the needs of the public beta?

“I’m sorry,” Kizmel shook his head regretfully. “You and Dante helped me, and the camp will welcome you, but your companions have not been accepted by the dark elves.”

"Okay..." Asuna smiled wryly and patted Silica's head, who was disappointed once again, to comfort her.

Mitt didn't react much. She and Silica weren't involved in the mission, so they definitely couldn't enter. The camp they entered after triggering the mission was a temporary space created for each squad that accepted the mission.

It's worth mentioning that the first chapter's quest, "The Emerald Key," can be triggered at any random location in the forest, where you'll encounter Kizmel and another elven paladin.

The reason is that if it were changed to a single mission, there would need to be a large number of other unique missions available for all players to take on, otherwise it wouldn't be fair.

So SAO chose this clever approach to ensure that every player could experience the Elf War campaign missions, follow a story known only to themselves, and then each would reach a different ending.

"Are you done talking?" she asked Dante, arms crossed, as he approached.

"Okay." Dante nodded in reply to Mitt, "Let's split up for now, but be careful not to get spotted by others while you're doing guild quests."

"Dante, who are the others?" Silica asked, somewhat confused.

Mitt frowned slightly, then replied knowingly, "I understand."

The task of forming a guild is fixed, so the route is predictable. The malicious incident that occurred on the first floor was the premeditated murder triggered by the player seeing Yuna and Ashura.

"Put on your cloak and don't reveal your identity," Dante continued, "Keep in touch while outside the circle."

“Okay.” Mite nodded seriously.

They then parted ways there, with Dante and Asuna following Kizmel southward into the forest.

Leaving the path, as you venture deeper into the "Misty Forest," the fog grows thicker and thicker. Even the map opened from the main menu becomes blurry due to the special environment, revealing only the player's general location on the second level, while the map's details remain unclear.

However, whenever she encounters a monster, Kizmel quickly cuts it down with her saber, and this older sister gives people a sense of security that makes them want to rely on her.

About ten minutes later, Dante could vaguely see several black flags standing in the thick fog, fluttering in the wind.

“Miss Kizmel is so reliable.”

As Asuna said this, Kizmel, who was walking ahead, stopped and turned around. "Just call me Kizmel."

“Then I shall respectfully comply,” Asuna readily agreed.

Then, Kizmel proudly introduced the dark elf camp on the third level, which was said to be enchanted by a "forest invisibility spell," making it difficult for humans to find.

"Does the spell refer to magic?" Asuna boldly asked Kizmel. Magic reminded her of her first encounter with Dante. Wasn't this world devoid of magic?

“No, our spells can’t even be called magic.” Kizmel lowered his sexy eyelashes and whispered, “If you really want to say, they are probably just some remnants of the great magic of the ancient times… Since we were separated from the earth, we people of Leussra have lost all magic.”

In ancient times, the land beneath Aincrad was ruled by the Kingdom of Kales-O established by the forest elves, the Kingdom of Leuss-La by the dark elves, the Nine United Kingdoms of humans, the underground kingdom of the dwarves, and other small and medium-sized countries established by other races.

But one day, for reasons unknown, a cataclysmic event occurred in which all the major regions of all the countries were cut into disc shapes and then sucked into the sky.

This event, known as the "Severing of the Earth," is the origin of the floating city of Aincrad.

Because communication between floors was cut off, almost all towns became autonomous city-states, with only the elves retaining their royal family and possessing "spells," a power akin to magic.

"Eh—" As she sighed at the legend, Asuna walked through a gap of about five meters in the steep rock wall and entered the dark elf camp.

The fog miraculously vanished the moment we entered the camp, and visibility became clear.

Only then did Dante see clearly the design of the flag that had been used as a marker: a black background with a pattern of a horn and a single-edged sword.

The heavily armored dark elf guards on both sides stood with their long, slender-handled swords, paying no heed to the two humans who entered.

"What if we walked over here ourselves?" Asuna couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

“Then they probably won’t launch an attack,” Dante explained.

The camp was a circular space about fifty meters in diameter, containing about twenty purplish-black tents, and beautiful dark elf warriors roamed around the camp.

But among the female elves, there is practically none more beautiful than Kizmel. It's no wonder she was originally a female character who only existed in the story at the beginning.

"No matter how pretty she is, she's still an NPC. Don't get any weird ideas." Perhaps his scrutiny was a bit too blatant, for Dante heard Asuna's warning and shook his head with a wry smile.

"With you by my side, I won't have any strange thoughts about other people."

"......!" Asuna was stunned for two seconds before realizing that what she had just said was a bit strange. Didn't that mean that she would only have strange thoughts about herself?

Thinking of this, she looked away and blushed.

Upon noticing Asuna's somewhat adorable reaction, Dante chuckled, only to be met with a fierce glare.

Kizmel led them to the largest tent, where the two had their first meeting with the commander of the Dark Elf vanguard. The commander was overjoyed by Kizmel's survival and the recovery of the Emerald Key, and distributed a considerable reward for the mission, as well as high-performance equipment and items.

Even the equipment is freely selectable from several options, and Dante saw a Dark Elf standard saber similar to Kizmel's weapon.

But this should be a curved blade type of weapon. If it were a one-handed sword, Dante might be interested in choosing this one. With a little enhancement, it should be enough to replace the Bear Slayer on his back.

Unfortunately, in the end he could only choose a silver ring with +1 Strength, while Asuna chose a red earring with +1 Agility.

The handover of the mission was conducted in a manner similar to that in a game, with the commander behaving like a normal NPC, and the conversation concluded smoothly in a very calm atmosphere.

After receiving their new mission, "The Slaying of the Poisonous Spider," from the commander, Dante and Asuna stepped out of the large tent.

As dusk settled at the bottom of the floor representing the sky, and the western sky began to turn red, Dante stood on the grass in the valley.

Suddenly, a notification popped up in his field of vision: a new email. Dante opened it casually; the sender was Kirito.

Kirito had already received the Spirit Campaign mission, but something strange happened. He guessed it might be related to Dante, so he sent it over.

Those were the two elves Kirito encountered fighting in the forest, one of whom was a dark elf. The usual girl, Kismer, had been replaced by an unfamiliar male dark elf knight.

In other words, no player will be able to encounter Kizmel from now on. At the moment Dante saves Kizmel, unlike Asuna, whose possibility of leaving them and joining the Knights of the Blood Oath still exists, all possibilities of encountering Kizmel have disappeared.

From that moment on, Kizil, who stood with Dante, became unique, becoming the only individual in SAO, or rather, the entire world.

Perhaps it is this irreversible change in the timeline that has attracted the world's attention.

Chapter 79: Only One Tent

As dusk turned into night, the campsite gradually took on a more fantastical, otherworldly feel.

The lights illuminating the camp were strangely shaped, their silent, burning purple flames seemingly confined within intricate iron cages visible everywhere.

As for the background music in the camp, it was a string sound similar to Yuna's lyre, which was coming from some tent. Considering that Yuna should still be practicing music on the second floor, this background music was probably played by some elf.

In the distance, there was a huge tent, presumably the soldiers' mess hall. Dante's ears caught the clinking of glasses and the soldiers' laughter coming from inside.

Asuna, walking behind Dante, strolled along, listening intently to the background sounds that were distinctly different from those of the human streets.

But then she suddenly remembered something and asked the elven knight in purple armor, "Kizmel, what are you planning to do next?"

"Hmm?" Kizmel turned to look at the two of them, then pointed to the tent that sounded like the canteen, "I'm going to get something to eat. Dante, Asuna, are you coming too?"

"Elf food..." Asuna's eyes lit up instantly. Unable to contain her curiosity, she nodded happily and replied, "I want to go!"

However, after she finished speaking, she realized her mistake and turned to look at Dante, wanting to ask for his opinion.

“No problem, we can just stay here from now on,” Dante said casually.

"Huh? Is this a place I can stay?" Asuna quickly turned to Kizmel to confirm.

“Well, it’s fine if you want to rest in the tents at the camp. If you want to go back to the human town first, I can use a spell to send you to the vicinity of the town.” Kizmel pointed with his left hand toward the direction of the canteen tent. “The bathroom is next to the canteen, and you can use it anytime.”

This statement was the final word, making Asuna agree without hesitation.

So they followed Kizmel to the canteen and found an empty table to sit down.

Although they are elves, they eat meat and don't seem to have any dietary restrictions.

The meal consisted of soft raisin and nut bread, served with honey-glazed chicken with a dark brown exterior and a rich, creamy tuber and vegetable soup. There was no dessert after the meal, but there were some unidentified berries that looked like large raspberries and tasted sweet and sour.

Asuna was very satisfied with dinner, but there was a slight problem with the resting part.

After Kizmel led her and Dante into one of the tents, he said, "There are no extra tents, so you'll have to sleep in ours. It will be a bit cramped for three people, so please bear with us."

"No, thank you so much for letting us use... Wait!" Asuna froze, as if she doubted her ears. She hurriedly asked Kizmel, "Kizmel, what did you just say?"

Kizmel looked puzzled, as if wondering if he hadn't explained things clearly.

Seeing that Kizmel seemed to be waiting for her to continue, Asuna had no choice but to ask, "Are there three of you together?"

“Yes,” Kizmel nodded casually.

The clear answer made Asuna gasp, then she looked at Dante, her expression changing three times before she finally spoke: "You... already knew?"

“I’m not a closed beta tester,” Dante explained succinctly, which softened Asuna’s expression.

Then he pulled Asuna's arm and moved her to the side, whispering to her to avoid Kizmel.

"According to Argo's intelligence, Kizmel should have died in the battle with the forest elves. Also, we can stay in the empty tents in the camp."