A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Hmph, no, I just arrived recently. I was looking for you because you hadn't returned for a while," Kizmel replied honestly, no longer teasing Asuna.

"That's good." Asuna, who had been asking with a slightly flushed expression for some reason, breathed a subtle sigh of relief after receiving a definite answer.

She seemed worried that Kizmel had been following her since the morning, but thankfully that wasn't the case. The dark elf sister didn't seem to have any voyeuristic tendencies; it appeared she was just trying to scare people on a whim.

“Let’s go back,” Dante said to Asuna with a smile. “Go back” meant returning to the Dark Elf camp, or more specifically, to Kizmel’s tent.

"Hmm." Asuna nodded silently.

“Kizmel, we may need to bother you for a few more days.” Dante expressed the politeness a player should have to Kizmel, even though the person was an NPC.

“Of course you can.” A gentle and charming smile immediately appeared on Kizmel’s delicate face. “Please make sure you feel at home there. I’ve always wanted to say that I’m very happy living with you.”

Perhaps because of the irreparable regret left by his sister, Kizmel, having learned his lesson, expressed his feelings very frankly.

Her words made Asuna's cheeks flush slightly. The thought of the three of them living together... just imagining that scene made her face feel even hotter.

They then embarked on their journey back, because the elves' teleportation spells are one-way, and since Kizmel had already teleported to the human town, they had no choice but to go back.

On their way back, they stopped by to rescue the elf they were supposed to help in Chapter 4, "Emergency Order," even though he was a fake.

After being rescued and brought to the camp, the key was indeed stolen. Dante kept a close eye on the other party, but the other party had no intention of fighting at all and easily escaped Dante's pursuit using a spell unique to elves.

This was probably a necessary plot point, otherwise Dante would have wanted to directly stop and kill the opponent.

Next, they formed a temporary team with the elite troops in the camp, the "Dark Elf Wolf Tamer," and Kizmel, and followed the trail left by the imposter elves. Finally, they discovered a large camp of forest elves deep in the forest.

The next part is the sixth chapter of this mission series, a mission called "Infiltration," which can be completed in ways other than stealing and robbing.

All you need to do is retrieve an item called the "Command Book" from the Forest Elf's camp. It contains important instructions issued by the commander of the large Forest Elf camp in the northern part of the Misty Forest.

Dante's chosen method, just like the mission's name, is "infiltration"—as long as he doesn't get discovered by any forest spirits, that's all that matters.

The most direct way to ensure there are no witnesses is to kill them all; this would be the perfect way to "infiltrate."

Chapter 90: Night Raid, Ambush, and Counter-Ambush

"A night raid?" Inside Kizmel's tent, Asuna was so surprised by Dante's strategy that she exclaimed.

On the contrary, Kizmel rested his chin on his hand and began to seriously consider Dante's words.

"Don't look at me like that," Dante said, as Asuna tilted her head and looked at him, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. "This is normal military tactic; all's fair in war."

While there is an option to infiltrate properly, it's a pity that Dante doesn't have a skill slot to learn the "Stealth" skill. It's difficult to infiltrate undetected with just the Midnight Coat and unfamiliarity with the area. So it's better to just eliminate all the forest elves that might discover him.

"Dante, you must be very good at Chinese," Asuna guessed. It's difficult for ordinary students to speak Chinese fluently, and most of them are not very good at the Chinese part of the national language class.

"Actually, I am fluent in various languages."

"Really?" Asuna didn't believe it.

“Really, for example, Моимармеладныи.” Dante’s lips curled slightly.

"What?" Asuna was confused by the series of trilled 'r' sounds, so Dante repeated it again.

After Asuna tried repeating the basic pronunciation several times and found it correct, she asked, "Is this Russian? What does it mean?"

"It's a secret." Dante blinked.

“Ugh… Моимармеладныи.” Asuna squinted and repeated it to Dante as if venting her frustration.

"Ah."

Just then, Kizmel suddenly looked up and said, "I agree."

"Huh?" "Ah."

"I think Dante's suggestion of a night raid is feasible. The forest elves probably didn't expect us to do this."

The elf's words were indeed unexpected, but the player might not be so sure, Dante thought to himself, bowing his head.

However, he put aside these distractions and continued discussing feasible plans. "Hmm, as long as we hire a few more dark elf soldiers, we can ensure everything goes smoothly. The rest is..."

"What is it?" Asuna pouted unconvinced when she noticed Dante looking at her as soon as he finished speaking.

"Asuna, can you accept attacking resting forest spirits and killing them when they are unprepared?" Dante asked seriously.

-----------------

Under the cover of night, Dante met up with Argo in the forest.

"Hey, where's Asuna?" Argo, who was waiting under the tree, asked Dante's first question about Asuna.

"They're leading a squad of dark elves behind us," Dante said, pointing behind him. To be precise, he was leading an elf squad with Kizmel.

“Hey—aren’t you guys coming together?” Argo moved away from the tree trunk and walked to Dante’s side.

"Asuna and I are only five minutes apart. If we hurry up a bit, we should be able to close the gap to more than ten minutes," Dante said quickly.

“Let’s talk as we walk,” Argo said, gesturing for him to lead the way.

Dante then sped toward the forest elves' front camp at the maximum speed permitted at the time, while Argo followed at a leisurely pace behind him.

"I heard that Diabel plans to hunt down the boss that dwells in the cave in the connecting labyrinth area tomorrow morning." Argo didn't get to the point, but instead casually steered the conversation towards the progress of the raiding group.

“I already knew, Diabel already told me,” Dante replied. Diabel’s big fuss was to assert the Boss’s authority. “If I’m free tomorrow, I’ll bring Asuna with me.”

“Wow—you guys have such a good relationship,” Argo remarked.

"Who did you say?" Dante turned around, confused, and saw Argo's grinning face.

"Hehe, of course it's Diabel." Her teasing smile seemed to say, "You think it's Little Diabel?"

“Because our interests align.” Rolling his eyes, Dante continued on his way.

“The name Diabel seems to come from an Italian dialect, and it means ‘devil,’ while you are called Dante, the traveler from hell. No wonder you two are so compatible, hehe…” Argo let out a shrill laugh. “But one of you is called a hero and the other is a knight, I really don’t know how you came up with your names.”

"Only people with chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) would call themselves heroes, right?" Dante muttered to himself, subtly criticizing Diabel's youthful spirit.

"Hahaha..."

Argo's voice, which sounded like she was laughing out loud, made Dante think for a moment that she wouldn't fall behind. However, when he turned his head, Argo was still maintaining the same distance as before. It seemed that all her attributes were put into agility, and she was even quite at ease.

"So you called me here just to verify the stealth route for Chapter Six?" After laughing, Argo turned the conversation back to the main topic.

“…part of it.” Dante turned around and smiled. “Later, you stay far behind me and don’t come out if anything happens.”

"I really don't understand what you're trying to do." Argo shook his head, but still agreed.

Under the suspicious gazes behind him, Dante thought to himself: Of course, I'm thinking of seeing if I can lure out someone.

He called Argo along as an extra layer of insurance, because there were some things he didn't want Asuna to see.

We're about to leave the forest. Ahead lies a river valley plain, where the forest elves' camp is located on the mountain. Though called a camp, it's really just an outpost.

Just like the dark elf camp where he and Asuna lived was located at the southernmost end, the main camp of the forest elves was located at the northernmost end of the third level.

"Remember not to let me see you." Dante turned back to Argo and reminded him as they were about to enter an area with no cover.

"I know," Argo pouted, her tone implying that she shouldn't be treated like a child.

Leaving the forest, Dante circled the hill, intending to head to the other side. On the other side of the hill was a vertical cliff, more than ten meters high, leading directly to the camp, with a tree root protruding from it. Anyone who wasn't heavily armored should be able to climb it easily.

Under the silvery moonlight, Dante walked carefully across the river plain strewn with rocks of all sizes.

The stream at his feet made a light, cheerful sound, and with his enhanced vision, Dante could also see a dark shadow drifting leisurely across the water.

Although Asuna has already learned cooking skills, no one has learned fishing skills.

The idea of ​​eating various fish dishes will have to be postponed until we reach the twenty-third floor.

Suddenly, the line of sight, slowly flowing from right to left, caught sight of a human-like silhouette in the darkness on the opposite bank.

Dante was extremely confident in his five senses and there was no illusion or delusion involved.

Someone is lurking there!

In SAO, a sustained gaze will reduce a player's stealth rate, and target acquisition and stealth skills are directly countered.

With the help of his target acquisition skill, Dante stared at an open space on the opposite bank for a few seconds. The figure in the darkness seemed to have removed its veil of concealment, and suddenly a little color slowly seeped out. At the same time, the player's green buoy appeared.

The other side should already know that their stealth rate has dropped to 0%.

He appeared here in the dark of night and did not remove his cover even after being discovered. In fact, he had been hiding for a long time, otherwise Dante would not have found him when he was already in a hidden state.

It turns out he intentionally lay in ambush here, which is undoubtedly the case for the enemy.

"Come out, I've seen you."

"Oh dear~ We've been found out~" A cheerful voice, clearly out of place with the atmosphere, broke the silence.

The player who emerged was wearing dark gray scale armor, gloves and boots of the same material, and a one-handed sword hanging from his left hip.

The face is not visible because the hood-like lock-like hood covering its head extends all the way to its shoulders.

"As expected of a knight, even though I was hiding quite far away, you still managed to find me. Just how proficient are you at detecting enemies?"

His voice carried a touch of youthful innocence, but more so a deliberate, theatrical quality.

Dante looked at the male player, who was shorter and smaller than him, and asked, "Name?"

"How indifferent—" the other party sighed, sounding hurt. "There's no need to mention my name, which is just an invisible player who hardly ever goes to the main street, to offend your ears."

"Then why do you still want to join my guild, Morut?" Dante asked in a deep voice.

"Oh, how did you know? Ah, it's that little girl. So young and already gossiping?" Morut spread his arms dramatically. "That's right, I am Morut. My name comes from my popularity, like a model, ahahaha~"

“That’s trust. Someone like you who has no friends wouldn’t understand that at all,” Dante scoffed.

"Ugh~ Why the sudden personal attack? I have companions too~" Morut swayed his thin waist from side to side, his nonchalant manner irritating. "Ah! Are you wondering if I came alone?"

"Too bad!" he shouted jokingly, his voice so loud it seemed he wasn't afraid of attracting the forest spirits from the hills.

"Dante! Watch out!" Argo's voice suddenly came from behind.

"?!" Dante immediately turned around upon noticing the anomaly.

At the same time as Argo's voice came a sharp whistling sound.

"Qiang."

Dante drew his sword halfway, deflecting the dagger thrown at him. He then pulled the Bearslayer out completely and took a few steps back, even though the enemy behind him was far away.

"Tch—" Morut clicked his tongue loudly, "Did I fail? Did I just say something unnecessary?"

"Idiot, the other side was prepared." The newcomer said in a deep, emotionless voice.

He was wearing a hooded overcoat, similar to a raincoat, which covered his entire body, making it impossible to see his true appearance. However, judging from the other person's voice, he was at least thirty years old.

"I was startled when I saw him emerge from the nearby forest." At this moment, Argo ran silently to Dante's side, his grappling hooks already poised for action.

"May I ask why I was attacked?" Dante asked.

“I thought you could guess why,” the man in the raincoat said succinctly, and Dante seemed to see the corners of his mouth, hidden behind the hood, curving upwards. “This isn’t our first meeting.”

"Ah~ the first time was in Razor." Dante pretended to suddenly realize.

"Hmph." Under the hood, the man in the raincoat let out a heavy snort.

“But that attack was just a whim, wasn’t it? What’s the reason for this one?” Dante gestured for Argo to look at the other side, then continued his conversation with the man in the raincoat.

"Of course it's because you're in the way~" Morut answered in place of the man in the raincoat, teasingly.

“That’s strange. Shouldn’t you have eliminated Diabel first?” Dante joked.

“That guy definitely needs to be eliminated, but even without him, with you here, the conquest group won’t collapse.” The man in the raincoat indicated that Dante was also undoubtedly a thorn in his side.

“Well, after all, this guy has a pretty high reputation among casual players.” Argo agreed with the man in the raincoat, which made Dante turn around and glare at him, as if to say, “Whose side are you on anyway?”

Argo shrugged at this. She did agree with what the gloomy raincoat man in front of her said. Even without Diabel, Dante could still gather a portion of the players' strength and continue to lead the raiding group forward.

"And besides, Diabel never goes out alone, otherwise you would definitely have heard about his death first! Hahaha~ What a pity~" Morut's reason for targeting Dante was also because he mentioned his itinerary at the meeting.

The sixth chapter of the Elf Quest, "Infiltration," presents a good opportunity to take action, and Morut, as a closed beta player, certainly doesn't want to miss this chance.

"..." The man in the raincoat, who had been chatting with Dante with great interest, suddenly fell silent, as if he were deep in thought.

This made Dante's heart sink; it would be bad if the enemy discovered that there were reinforcements behind them.

"Hey, Dante, should we retreat?" Argo suddenly shouted, plotting.

Ah, Argo is really...

Dante couldn't help but want to hug her and spin her around. He also shouted loudly at the man in the raincoat, "Do you still want to fight? We're not outnumbered by you."

“In a two-on-two fight, we have the advantage.” Morut took a few steps forward eagerly. “If we take care of them now, it will save us a lot of trouble.”