A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Hehehe..." Lingyin chuckled, then handed it to Mitt opposite her, "Miss Mitt, I have lived up to your expectations."

After receiving the weapon from Lingyin, Mitt equipped himself with the scythe, immediately closed the window, and took a few steps back.

He switched the sickle to his left hand, swung it a few times, and then switched it back to his left hand.

Then she activated the mechanism at the bottom of the scythe, and something incredible happened: the short-handled scythe, which could be held in one hand, instantly transformed into a long-handled, two-handed scythe.

Then she switched the sickle back to one-handed mode and activated the mechanism at the bottom of the handle, and a thin chain fell down from the bottom of the handle.

The head of the kusarigama is a rather large metal block, which is where the name kusarigama comes from.

It can be used as a sickle to strike, or the chain can be used to swing the sickle. Conversely, it is also possible to swing the chain to attack.

This weapon can only be used if you learn both the "Scythe" and "Flying Sword" skills at the same time. Mitt discovered this during the closed beta test, so on the first day of SAO's official launch, he used his only two skill slots to learn both skills.

"That's a really good weapon." Mitt smiled with satisfaction as he sheathed the scythe.

"Great!" Lingyin breathed a sigh of relief. She raised her right hand in a victory pose with a big smile, and then stretched out her hand again. Mitt glanced at her and smiled back, and they gave each other a high five.

"Let's not delay, let's test the power of this weapon." Dante stood with Asuna with satisfaction, watching the harmonious scene in the guild.

"We still need to gather intelligence on the two-headed giant tortoise this afternoon," Asuna added.

"Well, if the boss is weak, we can just take him down while we're at it," Dante casually suggested, eliciting knowing smiles from the girls.

"That won't do!!!" A hoarse voice suddenly came from behind, "Trying to sneak away like that! We won't allow it."

Dante turned around and saw that the one who spoke was the Tooth King, and beside him were Diabel and Lind.

“King of Teeth, this doesn’t count as sneaking out.” Dante shook his head and laughed.

"How can it not count?! Last time we were so kind as to invite you guys along, are you planning to monopolize the Boss this time?" Ya Wang said angrily, hands on his hips.

At this moment, Lin De also coldly observed Ya Wang's speech. He usually did not get along with Ya Wang, but at this moment he seemed to be on Ya Wang's side, no, he tacitly approved of Ya Wang's behavior.

"Then what should we do?" Dante shrugged helplessly. "When we find out we can defeat the boss directly, should we choose to backtrack and fight it with you guys the next day?"

"Well, well. Ya Wang, calm down. If Dante and his guild hadn't discovered the shipbuilding mission, we'd still be struggling with the battle outside the circle right now." Diabel raised his hands and tried to comfort him.

"Tch!" Upon hearing this, Ya Wang spat briefly, but continued to mutter relentlessly, "Whether you guys discovered it or not is still uncertain."

It's true that Dante entrusted this task to Argo, but Argo's words should have another meaning.

"During the closed beta, the fourth level was a barren valley! How could there possibly be a shipbuilding quest there?" Asuna stood indignantly beside Dante.

"..." Ya Wang crossed his arms and turned his head to the side, seemingly not intending to listen to Asuna.

Even after their conversation ended, Asuna did not remove her hand from the hilt of her sword.

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

“Oh, thank you so much for inviting us.” Agil said, driving the four-seater gondola named “Pepponde” at the entrance to Lake Caludela, near the north side of the central part of the fourth level.

"I'm the one who called you over to help..." Dante stood at the stern of Tirnil's ship, reaching across the water to exchange fists with Agil.

After all, fighting a boss in the water while on a boat is unsettling, because if the player acting as the boatman falls into the water, the boat will be unable to move again.

If the boat capsizes, there is a 30-second window during which the player can only hold onto the boat and wait for it to right itself automatically, but this period of time is very dangerous for the player in the water.

“No,” Agil shook his head. “With you here, Diabel’s guild should be able to behave itself a bit.”

“Ha—” Dante chuckled.

Diabel's "Aincrad Alliance" has grown into a behemoth of over seventy people, including more than forty players from the Fang King faction alone, a number sufficient to form a joint force.

Thanks to Diabel's control, the guild's atmosphere was not allowed to deviate, but the arrogance of considering themselves the number one guild in SAO was already fully displayed among the Lind faction.

It would be very easy for them to monopolize the Boss; it could even become a routine, a routine they take for granted.

"You're in command today, aren't you?" Agil asked Dante.

"Yes." Dante nodded slightly.

“Then I’ll leave it to you, General!” Agil revealed his gleaming teeth, his thick eyebrows arching upwards with his smile.

"Don't worry, we can win," Dante assured her.

"Oh, oh." Agil's companions clenched their fists and waved them.

It was almost time to arrive, and three blue-painted boats were slowly approaching from behind. The one in front was a ten-seater gondola, the largest class of boats that the old shipwright could build.

The three people standing most prominently on the ship were Diabel, Lind, and Tooth King; the other two ships were likely part of the reserve force.

Although it's unclear how Diabel arranged it, one ship should have carried Lind's men, and the other should have carried Tooth King's men.

Sufficient balance is necessary for fairness.

“We’re here.” Diabel stood at the bow of the ship and tapped his armor with his fist. Part of his current armor was still made by Lisbeth.

"Welcome. Then proceed according to the battle plan I sent you last night." Dante had prepared a detailed strategy based on the Boss's characteristics last night and sent it to Diabel.

According to the intelligence gathered, the Boss's attack pattern consists of biting with two heads, slapping the water with its left and right fins, and charging attacks with its massive 20-meter-long body.

Of course, the most troublesome thing is its charge attack, because if it were to be directly hit, it would probably capsize.

Although the boss's head is where it suffers the most damage from its attacks, it is also the position from which the greatest damage can be inflicted.

With one more tail, he entrusted the task of attacking the tail to Agil's "Pepponde," while Dante would fight alongside Diabel in the front lines.

As for the boss's sides, the presence of its armor makes them essentially ineffective attack positions. For players to stand there and inflict significant damage on the boss is simply wishful thinking.

Because of the limited attack positions, Dante reduced the number of troops from the beginning.

At the same time, in his capacity as commander of this campaign, he ordered the two reserve forces sent by the Aincrad coalition to keep their distance when the fighting began.

"Let's finish this quickly!" Dante shouted, raising his two-handed sword.

"Whoa whoa whoa!!!" More than a dozen players, including Diabel, raised their weapons and let out the same battle cry.

"go ahead!!!"

Dante, standing at the stern, spearheaded the charge, firing the first shot in the boss battle with a ram hidden beneath the water, causing the boss's first HP bar to plummet.

Although Diabel and his crew had a large number of people on their ship, and the ship itself was large, their ship handling skills were quite poor.

However, every time Dante realized that the two-headed giant tortoise was about to attack, he would warn the ship next to him to retreat.

He would occasionally pilot the "Tirneel" to launch ramming attacks according to his own rhythm, each attack visibly reducing the Boss's health by a small amount.

"Dante! The boss's health bar is about to turn red!" Diabel stood on another ship, pointing his sword and shield directly at the boss.

"Be careful, the boss's attack pattern may change," Dante shouted back.

He noticed that the guild members on Diabel's ship seemed unusually serious, holding their breath and never taking their eyes off the Boss. Only Fang Wang briefly shifted his gaze and gave them a provocative look.

“It looks like they want to compete with us for LA,” Mitt stated the facts.

"We absolutely cannot give in!" Asuna stood gracefully on the bow of the ship, aiming her rapier at the Boss's protruding head, while turning back to confirm with Dante.

"Then it depends on each person's ability," Dante said with a light laugh.

“…” Silica, Lingyin, and Lisbeth all made a pep talk, determined not to lose.

When the Boss's health dropped to the last red bar, the two-headed giant tortoise let out a roar that was a mixture of pain and rage.

The ripples on the water seemed to threaten to carry the ship far away, and Dante struggled to maintain its balance on the water, while the two ships behind him had already been pushed far ahead.

As soon as the roar subsided, Dante immediately gave his final command, "Attack freely!"

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" The crew of Diabel's ship were like they'd been injected with adrenaline, charging forward as if afraid of falling behind, thanks to the boatman in charge of the ship.

"What are we waiting for?" Lisbeth asked Dante, unable to contain herself as she watched the Boss's HP bar plummet.

"Wait. Wait for the tortoise to flip over." Dante stared intently at the tortoise, gripping the mast tightly in his hand.

He will decide the outcome with a single blow.

Chapter 102: The Greatest Loot

To be precise, it should be called a rollover, but such a large monster moving around on the water's surface could cause huge waves.

Its two necks, fore and hind fins, and tail were all wrapped around its shell. Although this was the first time the Boss had made such a move, players who were used to dealing with monsters were quick to realize what it was about to do.

Diabel was already directing the ships to retreat, but Dante decided to do the opposite.

"Let's go!" Dante immediately started rowing, steer the Tirnier through the white waves, and shouted, "Asuna! Mito!"

"Yes!"

"understood."

Dante named Asuna and Mito because their DPS was the highest among the group. Both Asuna's weapon and Mito's ranged sword skills could inflict massive damage on the amphibious creature in front of them in a short time.

At this moment, they were getting closer and closer to the Boss. Just as they passed Diabel's ship, they could still see the shocked faces of Diabel and his guild members, followed by expressions of regret.

They probably realized that Boss's LA seemed to have just slipped through their fingers.

Mitt launched the first attack, spinning the chain in his hand, which emitted a gorgeous purple light effect, and hurled it at the Boss's slightly exposed soft side. Instantly, the Boss's red HP bar dropped by one-sixth.

The churning lake waters were preventing the gondola from getting any closer, but the Tirneel seemed unaffected, riding the waves like a surfboard, tilting its bow while maintaining a delicate balance.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"

The second attack came from Asuna. She stepped on the bow of the ship and leaped out, her purple cloak billowing in the wind. Her rapiers, flashing with green light, were arranged in a triangle and swiftly thrust out, causing the boss's health to drop by another quarter.

The next second, the Tirneel, with its bright red ram, slammed into the Boss's side and pierced deep inside.

The boss's remaining HP quickly disappeared, and it slid to the bottom.

No! Just a hair's breadth away! The HP bar stopped a little above the bottom.

"Almost there!" Mitt shouted immediately upon realizing this, and prepared to throw the chain again.

Dante had already leaped out and unleashed a two-hit area-of-effect attack called "Tornado," capable of delivering two slashes in an instant.

Arriving almost simultaneously with Mitt's attack, Dante unleashed his attack on the Boss's side before the Boss disappeared, kicking him hard and then flipping over backward.

"No way..." Lisbeth watched this scene unfold, muttering unconsciously.

Is this even something a human could do?!

No, perhaps even a world-class gymnast could do something similar.

As Dante landed steadily at the stern, Boss's massive body collapsed. The Tirnier, shrouded in countless fragments of blue light, fell from the sky, crashing into the lake and creating a huge splash.

But the boat didn't capsize. Silica and Lisbeth sat down on the boat, while Mitt and Lingyin half-squatted down to maintain their balance. Nothing embarrassing happened.

"Wait, where's Asuna!" Mito turned around and realized that someone seemed to be missing from the ship. He turned his head and found that someone was already getting ready to go into the water.

"Miss Asuna?!" Silica looked around in a panic.

"Don't worry." Dante had just confirmed Asuna's landing spot. If that idiot could remove her equipment underwater, she should be able to float to the surface on her own.

Before the battle began, everyone was told to wear swimsuits inside.

After moving the boat to a general location, Dante tied a rope around his waist as a precaution and then jumped overboard.

A strange sense of envelopment spread throughout his body. It might be slightly different from real lake water, but it felt real enough to him.

He quickly spotted his target, as it was nearing noon and the dappled golden sunlight filtering through the ripples on the water made visibility very high.

Asuna's chestnut-brown hair floated in the water, smooth as silk, as if draped in a thin layer of golden gauze, making her extremely eye-catching.

She was manipulating the game menu, seemingly intending to remove her equipment.

Dante quickly swam over, the water from all directions blurring all sounds until he got close enough that Asuna could see him.

Her eyelashes fluttered gently, like butterfly wings, and her amber eyes shone brightly in the shimmering underwater world.

"Puff puff puff..." She gently exhaled a string of bubbles, as if she wanted to say something, but immediately realized that she was in the water.

"Pfft..." Even Dante exhaled a series of bubbles because of her silly appearance.

He nimbly swam onto Asuna's body, grasped her slender waist with both hands, and lifted her up to prevent her from sinking any further.

As it sinks further down, even the light will become much dimmer.

A few seconds later, Asuna finally pressed the Yes button to remove all her clothes, and the next second almost all of her clothes disappeared.

At the same time, the warmth from the warm hand on her waist made her tremble all over. She gently bit her lower lip, but before she could react, Dante had already let go of her hand.

He swam a little further up and handed the rope tied around his waist to Asuna, so that the two of them wouldn't lose their way when they surfaced.

"..." Asuna looked at Dante's gentle and focused gaze and felt a little breathless.

"..." At this moment, Dante saw that Asuna's HP was slowly decreasing under his own HP bar in the upper left corner. Sure enough, she had been underwater for too long.