A journey to another world starting from a sword

“We should definitely buy some spares; the missions ahead might be even more difficult,” the seemingly capable spearman said, shaking his head.

"Alright, alright." The tower shield man, who kept extending his palm to make peace, gave the impression of being the leader; he must be the captain of these four.

Because they were standing in a row in front of the counter, they were blocking Dante and Asuna's way.

After waiting for half a minute, the argument between the four people escalated even further.

"What should we do?" Asuna asked, giving her a protesting look without saying it aloud.

Even when standing two meters behind four people, the other party still didn't notice.

"Who knows?" Dante shrugged silently, rolled his eyes, and then, under Asuna's helpless gaze, couldn't help but laugh.

Asuna patted him on the back immediately, and her meaning was clear. So Dante took a step forward, changed his expression into a super social smile, and spoke to her loudly.

"Excuse me, could you please move aside?"

At this moment, the four people seemed to be startled and quickly turned around. They all stared blankly at Dante's face for about five seconds.

Then he shifted his gaze to the left, presumably to check on Asuna's condition. Asuna usually wore a hood, so his gaze didn't linger for long before settling on Dante.

"Sorry, I was a little startled." The first to speak was the female player equipped with a large scimitar and a small shield; she was probably the one who had been staring at Dante the longest.

"Don't say that, I'm the one who should apologize, because we were a little in a hurry." After Dante apologized with a smile, the expressions on the four people's faces relaxed a little.

"Oh dear, this is quite a surprise. I never expected to meet other players here. This place is really remote," the short, two-handed swordsman laughed.

“Indeed, it’s rare to encounter other players at the same time,” the tall, thin spearman teased his companion. “By the way, are you getting in their way?”

"What did you say!" the two-handed swordsman shouted.

"Alright, alright, let's make some space." The middle-aged tower shield user instructed.

"Oh, oh." "That's true."

"Thank you for your help," Dante said.

Then, under the silent gaze of the four, the two of them bought high-grade potions without any hesitation, and kept scrolling down the purchase quantity window with their fingers, planning to fill their backpacks.

"..." The four players were stunned. They had never encountered such an extravagant situation before. Were they here to buy goods?!

"Um..." The Tower Shielder's face, with its short beard, broke into a friendly smile as he tried to strike up a conversation.

"Don't worry, there's still plenty of potion left." Asuna thought the other person meant to say that they should leave some for them.

Her gentle and delicate voice was as clear as morning dew, beautiful as if it would disappear at any moment, and had the power to attract the listener's attention.

Upon hearing such a beautiful voice, the Tower Shield Envoy was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered and shook his head. "No, no. What I wanted to ask is that you two aren't members of the conquest group, are you?"

"Yes." Dante nodded simply, then closed the purchase success window.

"Just as I expected!" With a knowing look, the Tower Shield Master continued, "I was wondering why you two bought so many high-level potions..."

If you want to buy low-level potions, you can do so at a regular NPC shop. If you found this place, you definitely didn't come here to buy basic potions with slightly weaker effects.

"Wow, this is the first time I've met someone from the Conquest Group. I didn't expect them to be so handsome." The female scimitar's words were filled with pure surprise and joy, which made her three male companions exchange glances and smile wryly.

"You flatter me," Dante said politely with a smile in response to the unexpected compliment.

"The raiding group isn't that amazing. From what I can see, your equipment levels are all very high. If you've made it this far, you can fight smoothly even in the dungeon area. Joining the raiding group is no problem at all," Asuna encouraged, speaking from the heart, especially at this moment.

But the other person immediately gave them a look that said, "What are you talking about?" Then all four of them shook their heads vigorously at the same time.

"Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible. We're not cut out for it."

"That's right, that's right."

"It doesn't have to be that bad," Asuna muttered softly.

"Let me explain," the leading tower shield user said with a wry smile. "For the two members of the conquest group, this is quite an embarrassing situation."

"The 'standby group' who stay in the starting town every day waiting for the game to be fully completed also gets hungry and needs to sleep. Although they won't starve to death even if they don't eat, and they can just lie down on the roadside to sleep, they still want to eat hot food and sleep on a soft bed if possible."

His companions nodded in agreement, which was only natural; there was no need or possibility for them to actually live like beggars.

The Tower Shield Envoy continued, "In that case, we'll need daily food and lodging expenses. But we're not going to go outside the circle to kill monsters and earn money. There are plenty of quests in the starting town if we look around."

"A mission?" Asuna repeated.

"Yes. Of course, we won't accept quests outside the city to collect items or defeat monsters. We only accept errands and item-finding quests that can be completed within the city limits. Some rarer quests even include cleaning NPCs' homes and walking pets."

"I see." Asuna nodded in understanding; they were the so-called quest players.

"If you try to keep the coins or gems that occasionally appear in the garbage dump while cleaning, you'll be locked in the dungeon under the house for half a day," the two-handed swordsman added with a grin.

Well, SAO is too wholesome. If this were in some special game, how could female players not get away with being locked up?

Meanwhile, the two-handed swordsman was also ridiculed by his companions, who said, "Only an idiot like you would do something like that!"

"Ahem, in short, there are many tasks like this that allow you to safely earn money. Although there's no danger to your life, they are all very troublesome tasks. However, the reward for each task is fixed, and it won't decrease even if many people complete it. If you cooperate, you can complete it faster. We've accumulated all this equipment and leveled up little by little by constantly doing tasks."

"Oh, oh." Asuna understood what the other party meant, since she had obtained a lot of rare equipment in the Elf Campaign quest.

"So we really admire you guys, and we also feel very embarrassed, because no matter how hard we try, it's impossible for us to break through the maze area and defeat the floor boss."

Unexpectedly, the other person's words elicited nods of agreement from their companions, as if they thought that was the case.

This is probably how most ordinary players would react when facing a boss that could lead to their death at any moment.

Even for players who have just joined the strategy group, newcomers should be allowed to gradually adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield and improve their resilience and combat skills.

If a major defeat occurs, most players, except for a few veterans with strong mental fortitude, will likely suffer from psychological trauma for a long time, much like the surviving players of the Aincrad Alliance. To put it bluntly, they are essentially crippled and unlikely to participate in future raids.

"To be honest, I don't know your names yet." The middle-aged-looking tower shield user introduced himself first. His name was Gindo.

After he finished speaking, his companions also announced their names one after another: the female scimitar user was Laziri, the two-handed sword user was Timo, and the spear user was Haiston.

"I am Asuna," Asuna nodded slightly.

"Dante."

“…I feel like I’ve heard this name somewhere before.” Yintang was stunned again.

"Idiot!" Lazily slapped him on the shoulder. "Isn't this the 'Knight' who's on par with 'Hero' Diabel?"

That's a very polite way of putting it, Dante thought to himself.

The other party claimed they were on par, but in reality, Diabel's name was far more famous than his actual name due to the massive operations of the Aincrad Alliance at the lower levels.

"Oh, the first floor strategy tournament..." Gindo realized that this must refer to the first time he heard the name Dante.

but......

Dante and Asuna exchanged a glance. There was something hidden in Asuna's eyes, but they both knew what the other was thinking.

The players in the back don't know that Diabel is dead yet. If they did, they wouldn't be reacting this way.

“Hey, isn’t ‘Hero’ Diabel especially handsome?” Lazily asked with great interest.

"Hey, what question are you asking?" Haiston, the spearman, complained.

"What? Aren't you interested? After all, he's called a hero! Like a knight or a prince or something, shouldn't heroes usually be handsome?" Lazily retorted.

"Hahaha..." Yintang laughed again as he watched his companions arguing.

“Diabelle is indeed very handsome,” Dante remarked.

Upon hearing his words, Lazily gave her companion a "see?" look, which made Asuna burst into laughter as well.

"Since you've come all this way, you must have already left the town, right?" Asuna asked curiously, wanting to know how the players behind her lived in Aincrad.

"Yeah, but the first time I left town, I ran back covered in bruises and crying." Yintang joked, which drew strong rebuttals from his companions.

"Is it really that exaggerated?" "Yeah, it's been a week since we got outside the circle." "But it was definitely dangerous that time."

While comforting his companions, Gindo told Dante and Asuna about what had happened, "Everyone's HP was down to the yellow level that time. We fled back to Medei Village with our tails between our legs and tears in our eyes. We almost decided to stay in town forever, but then we found about ten players gathered in the square celebrating. It turned out that the first floor boss had been defeated."

What gave them the courage to venture out of town again was the encouragement from the raiding group.

Timo spoke up for Gindo, who was sighing, saying, "When we heard that news, we had a feeling of 'Ah, the strategy team is really different from us.' Actually, I was on the junior baseball team in middle school."

Suddenly he started talking about real-world matters, prompting Haiston, who was sitting next to him, to remind him, "You can't just talk about things in the real world so easily."

"It's okay, anyway, it's about my own business." Timo protested softly, then turned to Dante and Asuna and continued, "Baseball is a world where it's easy to understand that there are always people better than you. Of course, this is true for any sport, right? There will always be teammates you can't surpass and strong opponents you can't defeat."

"Actually, only those who don't give up and keep working hard even after all this can improve, but I just can't. When Medei heard Boss get knocked down, that long-lost feeling of standing in the stands came back to me. While cheering at the top of my lungs in the stands, I felt that the guys on the field were so far away from me, so amazing."

He said that he couldn't suppress his feelings and had something he had to say.

"You guys are really great!"

Chapter 133: The Great Achievement of Seven People Clearing the Level

Until yesterday, the streets were covered with a soft layer of white snow, like a thick wool blanket. Now, only a little snow remains on the roadside, making one wonder if it will snow again next year... at Christmas.

"I never expected them to think that way," Asuna exclaimed on the way back.

"..." Dante remained silent, but he had always been aware of this, which was why he and Diabel worked together to maintain harmony and stability within the conquest group.

Just now, Gindo was in a good mood and asked when the strategy team planned to break through to the fifth floor.

He smiled and replied, "You'll hear the news by tomorrow at the latest."

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

“Standing on the line will get you locked onto by the Boss. Argo will be responsible for stepping on the line. With her agility, she can easily dodge it. Then we can take the opportunity to attack the Boss’s limbs,” Dante said, nodding to Argo.

“Leave it to me.” Argo patted his chest, which showed no obvious signs of injury, and assured him, then muttered under his breath, “Honestly, I can’t believe I agreed to such a crazy plan.”

A team of only seven people taking down a boss is truly unheard of.

"You're about to step on it," she said, walking to the center of the room.

Dante, Asuna, Mito, Silica, Lisbeth, and Lingyin all nodded to her in confirmation, and Argo also nodded solemnly.

The moment the foot stepped down, the dimly lit room became as bright as day, and the dormant Boss was revived.

"Whoa!" Argo deftly dodged the outstretched arm beneath his feet and began to run to the side.

The air was torn apart with a loud "bang," and a black arm passed in front of Dante's eyes. He gestured for Silica to attack together, and the two of them surrounded it from the left and right.

He immediately wielded his heavy two-handed sword, nimbly leaping across the lines of the floor. To maximize the power, he unleashed the highest combo he had ever learned—the five-hit sword technique "Battle Blade." Meanwhile, Silica once again used the sword technique "Armor Penetration" to apply a debuff that reduced the Boss's defense. The other two also unleashed their most comfortable sword techniques.

For the sake of balanced combat strength, Asuna and Rei were paired together, while Mito and Liz were paired together, so that they could look after each other and it would be easier for them to move around.

Various light effects exploded, and the face on the ceiling descended with an angry voice. Looking up slightly, it was discovered that the first HP bar had lost nearly a third of its health in the first round of attacks.

Judging from the damage they caused, their squad was comparable to three or four squads composed of ordinary players.

"Don't be greedy, hit and then retreat," Dante shouted a warning.

“I understand,” Asuna replied loudly.

"Understood!" Mitt replied from a distance.

Once their hands and feet were back in place, and the moving line had just passed where they were standing, Argo shouted again, "The next round is coming!"

After saying that, she used her nimble movements, befitting her nickname "Mouse," to step on the fixed lines and dodge the attack, which everyone immediately seized the opportunity to attack.

When Dante successfully reduced the Boss's first HP bar, he looked up and saw the Boss's face about to open its mouth wide, and the emblem on its forehead turned red.

Although attacking the emblem on the ceiling boss's head could interrupt its action at this point, the room's height exceeded Mito's scythe's attack range, so the attempt had to be abandoned.

The roar followed, and the HP bar displayed the "Stun" effect. Thanks to the bonus resistance from his equipment being upgraded to the maximum, Dante was the first to recover from the "Stun".

Shaking his still-dazed head, Dante walked up to the petite Silica, put one hand around her waist, and then dodged the dazzling lines that moved towards him.

“…” Silica’s cheeks, which were held around her waist, felt as if they were being roasted by the monster’s fiery breath. This way of holding her, like she was dealing with a child, made her feel extremely ashamed.

She wants to be carried in a princess carry!!!

But I just can't bring myself to say those words.

Asuna and Mito quickly recovered and narrowly escaped danger.

After confirming each other's situation, Dante put Silica down and then gestured for Argo to step on the line again.

The next moment, the lines stopped moving.

This time, instead of the floor, a target appeared in front of Dante on the ceiling, but the task remained the same.

Faced with the golem's giant foot suddenly descending, he and Silica coordinated their sword techniques to strike the foot.

In less than ten minutes, the first, second, and even third HP bars were eliminated.

When the fourth HP bar dropped to half, the blue lines began to extend from the floor and ceiling to the walls, which undulated back and forth like some kind of soft marine creature.