A journey to another world starting from a sword

Asuna also clearly noticed the glittering brooch on Kizmel's left shoulder, which was exactly the same as the one on her hand in both shape and color.

“This is the emblem of the Knights of the Locust Tree.” Kismer shook his head regretfully, his voice heavy with sorrow. “The holder has probably passed away. Asuna, please give it to the Commander. We’ll go back and report.”

“Kizmel, we plan to take care of the Queen Spider on the next level while we're at it.” Dante spoke up, lowering his sword. “Could you join us…?”

With Kizil's assistance, a mere jungle boss should be a piece of cake for them.

“I’d be happy to,” Kizmel said with a smile.

Chapter 82: Can I join your guild?

"Sword attack!"

In a large room on the second floor, four armored "swordsmen" wielding weapons are fiercely attacking a giant spider.

The spider, known by its proper name "Nephila Regina," is called "Queen Nephila" because "Regina" means "queen." So, calling it "Queen Nephila" would be more accurate.

Charging forward at breakneck speed, Dante raised his longsword high above his head and brought it down like lightning. The sound of the blade cutting through the air pierced the air, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Asuna and the others then unleashed their sword skills upon the Queen Spider, causing the last of her two HP bars to drop further, now entering the yellow zone.

"Chirp chirp—!"

After letting out a mournful cry, the queen spider reacted swiftly, her many legs moving like a nimble snake as she attacked the surrounding area.

However, after the four nimbly dodged numerous attacks, they continued their fierce assault.

Asuna stepped forward, her sword flashing as she unleashed a "Triangle Attack," the sword light dazzling like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

The sword clashed violently with the Queen Spider's body, producing a piercing metallic clang. The Queen Spider was jolted back, and three deep wounds appeared at her joints.

Mitt swiftly moved among the giant spider's limbs, his scythe flashing with dazzling light effects, like a whirlwind, as he rapidly slashed at the queen spider's soft parts, causing green fluid to gush out.

And then there's Kizmare, who, without exaggeration, has the highest damage output among the four, making her a veritable human turret.

With their tacit cooperation, the Queen Spider was forced to retreat step by step by the encirclement. Dante and his companions crisscrossed in the dim space. The Queen Spider let out painful roars from time to time. As time went by, its legs became weaker and weaker, and its power gradually diminished.

Asuna had also read Argo's information and even memorized it.

Their attacks, such as stabs from the sides of their limbs, bites from their venomous fangs, the sticky webs they spew from their tails, and the vibrations from their vertical jumps, posed no threat to them whatsoever, especially since Mitt would remind them from time to time.

Finally, Dante struck the giant spider in the eye with a powerful sword strike, and its massive body swayed precariously before crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces.

The battle ended, and the four breathed a sigh of relief, revealing victorious smiles as they stood tall and proud like heroes.

The battle lasted only about three minutes before they defeated a jungle boss. Of course, unlike bosses like the Queen Spider and the Bull, which are difficult to defeat, this one could be resurrected and was even less rare than the Wolf Leader on the first floor.

“This…” Asuna immediately noticed a dark, shiny object lying on the floor beside her feet.

Upon picking it up, I realized it was a huge, sharp tooth from the Queen Spider's mouth.

"Give this to the commander later as well." With Kizmel still there, Dante couldn't explain it clearly, saying that this was actually a quest item for a later mission.

"Queen Spider's Venomous Fang." Asuna clicked on the item, curiously read its official name, and then put it back into her inventory.

"Fighting in this kind of natural maze is so uncomfortable." On the way back, Asuna voiced a complaint that everyone agreed with.

"Let's learn the 'shadow vision' skill later, since there will be quite a few situations like this later on," Dante said, turning back as he walked ahead.

In the ruins maze, represented by the floor maze area, there are lighting items such as torches, oil lamps or fluorescent stones on the walls, so players will not be bothered by the lighting.

However, in nests and caves, only a few mosses can be seen emitting a faint glow, and it is almost pitch black, which is why the skill "dark vision" exists.

Otherwise, having to hold the torch in your left hand during battle would always feel cumbersome when launching an attack.

For this battle, Dante specially bought many torches before the battle and threw them on the dry floor to make the room brighter, which shows how much effort he put into it.

Suddenly, a sound came from ahead. Dante heard the sound and realized that Kizmel, who was standing next to him, had stopped.

Listen carefully; it's not the sound of an arthropod.

"What?" Asuna walked up to Dante and asked in a low voice.

“Probably a player,” Dante said, frowning.

“It seems there are other visitors here besides us.” Kizmel said to Dante and Asuna with a straight face, half serious and half teasing.

"Should we avoid it?" Mitt asked. Although he asked, it was actually difficult to avoid it. There was nowhere to hide in the narrow passage, and they might have to go back.

"It's still unclear which group they are, so it's best to avoid them for now," Dante replied to Mitt's question.

“Then let’s hide here,” Kizmel said, pointing to a recess in the wall next to him, and smiled. “I know a spell that can conceal us.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you,” Dante said to Kizmel, who already knew.

Once they reached the recess in the wall, Kizmel pushed Dante and Asuna hard from behind, urging them to move further in.

Mitt was already squeezed to the deepest part, feeling as if his body was about to be flattened. At the same time, he could smell three different hormonal scents, but none of them were unpleasant.

As for Kizmel's physique, Dante now had the most direct impression. In order to act according to the situation later, he was face to face with Kizmel. The full-curved breastplate, the firm abdomen covered only by cloth, the smooth skin of the thighs, and the silky black stockings clung to his body.

If Kizmel moves around, there's no guarantee he won't have an embarrassing physical reaction.

"It's a little cramped." Kizmel's breathing made Dante's neck itch.

Of course it was crowded; four people were hiding in that tiny indentation.

"What if it's Diabel and his group that come?" Mitt suddenly thought.

"Then there's no need to hide, as long as it's not the Fang King and his gang," Dante said.

"What about Linde and the others?"

"..."

Before Dante could answer, he heard Kizmel say, "It's coming."

Covered by the cloak opened by Kizmel, the "concealment rate" was as high as 95% without using the "stealth" skill.

What's even more incredible is that, from the outside it looks like an ordinary textile cloak, yet it allows you to see the outside scenery from the inside, just like a one-way mirror.

This equipment is just too good; even Dante couldn't help but feel greedy.

He also knew that Kizmel had a detoxification ring that could detoxify once every ten minutes, which was also a very good piece of equipment.

Even if Mitt had learned the "crafting" skill, it would be difficult to make such a magical item unless he used some extremely rare materials.

The faint, sharp metallic sound grew closer, accompanied by the occasional sound of footsteps wading through puddles.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" one of the players casually complained.

The first voice was that of an unfamiliar player, but the next voice was very familiar.

"Quiet down!" It was Lind's voice.

"Yes, yes~"

Then Dante felt Asuna nudge his side, as if to say, "Do I need to dodge again?"

"Kizmel, let's go out first, you can continue hiding," Dante said immediately, feeling a little guilty for taking advantage of the elf sister.

Because of the darkness and the limited range illuminated by the torches, Linde and his companions did not spot Dante immediately.

“Hey... Lind.” One of them was the first to spot the shadow ahead.

"Is it a monster?" another person asked hastily, drawing his weapon.

“It’s a pity it’s a human,” Dante said, stepping into the firelight.

“Dante?” Lind’s eyes flashed with hostility. “And Miss Mitt and Miss Asuna.”

"If it were me, I should at least add 'san' to it," Dante retorted.

“Only Mr. Diabel would allow me to address him with such respect,” Lind replied stiffly.

Dante shrugged, not seeing Diabel among them. "To make a long story short, are you here for a guild quest or an event quest?"

"So you're planning to start your own guild after all. Speaking of which, Mr. Diabel must have invited you." Linde's expression changed.

No... how did you figure out I was doing a guild quest?

Seeing Dante's momentary silence, Lind realized, "So you've also chosen the Dark Elves' side."

To avoid Linde and the others mentioning terms like NPCs or elf quests, Dante preemptively asked, "I thought you would choose the forest elves' side."

“Mr. Diabel made me do it; he got the information from the rats.” Fortunately, Lind didn’t intend to say much more.

It seems that Diabel also chose the Dark Elf during the closed beta, and the claim that he obtained information from Argo was probably just an excuse.

According to Kirito, the dark elves fighting in the forest have now become male.

Linde and the others were unaware of this, but they followed Diabel's instructions and chose to help the dark elves.

"The Queen Spider won't respawn for another three hours," Dante kindly reminded her.

"What?!" Lind's face immediately turned ugly.

He probably also wanted to take down the Queen Spider while he was at it, but ended up having to come back again later.

"By the way, you've opened all the treasure chests in the cave, haven't you?"

The reason why Lin De's eyes were hostile at first was now clear: he thought he was the first to arrive, but he was actually a step too late.

"If you have help from closed beta testers, that's fine too. You're not like Ya Wang, who advocates against closed beta testers, are you?" Dante said, adding that it all depends on one's own abilities.

Linde then glared at him resentfully, "Hmph, of course."

"So Diabel is working on forming a guild?" Dante nodded.

“No.” To everyone’s surprise, Linde shook his head. “That mission was led by Ya Wang and his men, although we decided it by drawing lots…”

As he spoke, his expression became somewhat subtle, but he quickly straightened up and said, "As for Mr. Diabel's plan to do the hidden quests in the town and gather information about the Boss, he will then head to the maze area to find the Boss's room."

"..." Dante paused for a moment. He guessed that Diabel had learned from his experience in the second-level boss battle and was afraid that the boss would be very different from the one in the closed beta.

He shook his head and stepped aside, saying, "Good luck."

"Thank you." Linde was still quite polite, though. "By the way, Mr. Diabel plans to hold the first player meeting of the third floor tomorrow afternoon. Remember not to be late."

"understood."

......

In the morning, the first main street area is called "The Starting Town".

Silica sat on a small wooden chair on the vendor's rug, with a table in front of her. According to Miss Asuna, being more formal would make a better impression.

Perhaps because it was so good, the wooden sign she placed in front of the table was stopped and looked at by passing players countless times, at least hundreds of times.

Although it's just a simple matter of recruiting team members, plus the requirement of a blacksmith, many players have already asked about it.

Suddenly, another male player walked up from the crowd. He looked very young and had a well-proportioned build, but his head was covered by a chainmail-style hood, just like Silica's.

"Are you planning to recruit members?" he asked.

“Yes, we need a blacksmith,” Silica replied, straightening her back as much as possible.

"You can learn it on the spot, right? After all, there are very few players who know how to smelt these days. Little sister, you won't be able to recruit many people like this," the male player quickly retorted.

“Learning on the spot is fine,” Silica replied shrilly, “but shouldn’t you give your name first?”

"Ah, sorry, sorry, my name is Morut." Morut grinned.

"Mr. Morut, why did you choose to join our team?" Although she felt a little uncomfortable with the other person, Silica asked as if she were conducting an interview.

"Because you must be a frontline squad, right?" Morut said casually, pointing to the sign. "After all, only frontline players need player blacksmiths to enhance their equipment and improve their strength. And you're planning to establish your own guild, aren't you?"

After he finished speaking, he grinned and showed eight teeth. His words caused a murmur among the onlookers, many of whom thought he made a good point.

"How about it?" Morut gave a thumbs up. "My level is over 10, and my combat skill proficiency is not low either, at least higher than these guys watching."

"Before that, can you take off your hat?" Silica asked tentatively.

"Ah, sorry, actually I'm a bit of a social butterfly. The hat is a protective measure; I can't take it off easily." After saying that, Morut laughed heartily, "Just kidding~"

He took off his hat, revealing hair that was somewhere between orange and brown, and indeed, as Silica had predicted, he looked like a teenager.

"So? Can I join your team now?" Morut asked cheerfully.

"Um... I'm sorry, you don't meet our requirements." Silica said this, trying to appear calm, even though she had said it countless times before.

"..." Morut silently closed his mouth, his expression twisting for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal. "Could you please tell me the reason?"

As if suppressing his anger, he asked slowly, word by word.

"If you'd say it was suspicious that I covered my face before, weren't you suspicious too?"