Is this okay?

Ken Kaneki: Playing in the mud!! Don't even mention the Tree Guardian to me, it's ridiculously overpowered. The first time I played, I thought it was a small monster, so I went up and hit it once, and then I was dead!

Kazuma Sato: And the plot-driven death at the beginning, is this even playable? Putting aside the first boss, Omen, even if you don't go looking for Omen, you can still run into a dragon blocking your way while just wandering around outside... Tsk tsk tsk, Kayaba Akihiko just said he didn't want anyone to come out alive, why all this roundabout stuff?

Nezuko: I don't understand...

Homura Akemi: It's alright, Nezuko, you settle things over there first, we'll take care of things here.

Nezuko: Okay.

Tatsumi: This is totally unplayable, Kirito, what can you do?

Kirito: Even if you ask me, I don't know. Didn't you see I was acting all withdrawn when I was playing with you guys before...?

Stranger: Ah... this feels hopeless, maybe we should give up. Also, this old man's ring can be used to ambush your own ambush, most people just can't handle it.

Kirito: Mo, think of something quick! Otherwise, how many people will die!

Stranger: I'm more curious now about who can get out of the starting village...

Kirito: It doesn't matter how things turn out.

Stranger: If it's a speedrun, it would take us at least an hour.

Senior Xiaoyuan: Playing with a hammer? Ordinary people can't even play this. If someone could play this, they'd be inhuman.

Kirito: Never mind, I'll go online and check the situation first.

Stranger: Okay!

About a minute later.

Kirito: I've been banned!

stranger:????

Kaneki Ken: What did you do? How come your account got banned as soon as you logged in?

Kirito: I got banned during the closed beta for making 3,000 damage per second, and now I'm getting banned again during the open beta.

Kaneki Ken: Pfft...

Kazuma Sato: Sorry, we couldn't help it, we really forgot about it.

Kirito: What should we do?

Ningguang: Aren't you going to do anything?

Stranger: Of course I'll do it! Kirito's coming to your house!

Kirito: Okay! Wait a minute, I'll go back to Macho Island first to get some local specialties.

stranger:……

……

A moment later, Leng Mo and the others appeared in front of Kirito's villa, carrying large and small bags of local specialties.

Suguha, who had already received the news, was so excited that she immediately asked for leave and returned home. Old Master Kiritani was overjoyed.

"Brother! Welcome back!"

"Yes, Suguha, I'm back."

Kirito was overjoyed to see Suguha, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, and then the group went into Kirito's house.

When Kirigaya saw Kirito return, an excited smile appeared on his face. He even noticed some details and his eyes immediately lit up.

"Kirito."

"Huh? What's wrong, Grandpa?" Kirito looked over with a puzzled expression.

"You must have learned a lot from that trip."

"Yes."

Is there anything that can be passed down?

"Ah... I can go ask if the Breath of the Sun can provide that..."

"No, as long as it's there, I can rest assured. I'm getting old, so I'll pass on the Kirigaya family's legacy to you."

"Oh……"

Kirito didn't quite understand what the old man meant, but the old man had a happy, silly grin on his face, as if he were overjoyed that his grandson had already become a sword saint, and was filled with the happiness of enjoying life.

At this moment, Leng Mo offered a reminder.

"Kirito, let's hurry. This can't be delayed any longer."

"Okay, here we come."

Kirito responded and got up to walk towards the dojo.

"What happened?" The old man and Suguha asked nervously.

Kirito stood up and nodded seriously, saying, "The game I used to play has turned into a murder mystery game. Once you enter, you can't log off. Everyone is locked in the game. If you die in it, you'll probably die in real life too. We came back this time to solve this problem."

"Nani!?"

"how come?!"

Upon hearing the explanation, the old man and Suguha were shocked, never expecting that such a terrible thing could happen in their peaceful world.

"Is there any danger?!" Suguha asked Kirito worriedly.

"There's no danger for Amo and the others... the main concern is that if we delay too long, many people will die." Kirito explained simply, then turned and ran quickly towards the dojo.

As Suguha watched Kirito's departing figure, she couldn't help but feel a sense of感慨 (gan3kai3, a complex emotion encompassing both admiration and reflection). It had only been a short time since she last saw him, but Kirito seemed to have surpassed her by so much.

……

When Kirito arrived at the dojo, Leng Mo and the others had already prepared the game helmets.

"Did you bring these helmets?" Kirito was taken aback when he saw so many helmets.

"Of course it was made by the invincible Senior Xiaoyuan." Leng Mo said with a funny face, looking forward to putting on the helmet.

"Won't my account get banned?" Kirito couldn't help but twitch his lips as he thought about his account.

"Impossible. We don't have an account when we log in, and even the game ID is random and jumps every second. The system can't lock onto us at all." Senior Xiaoyuan was very confident in her product. You have to know that this is a miracle and magic, the kind that's handmade.

"That's good!"

Upon hearing this, Kirito immediately nodded and sat down in the chair next to him, ready to log on.

Once everything was ready, everyone immediately logged into the game.

"link! Start!"

……

This is the starting village for the Elden Ring of Law, a place for social interaction.

Surprisingly, the first place players log in to is the Study Cave, not the cliff where the plot ends.

However... the current situation is not as good as imagined.

Players are already aware of the situation and have even died quite a few times. The small learning cave is already full, making it the only safe spot for newbies.

Leng Mo was taken aback by this situation, especially when he saw the countless players' faces filled with despair.

Putting aside the fact that a large number of people are on the same map at the same time, there's also the question of why these guys look so withdrawn.

"So many people?" Leng Mo looked around in surprise; there wasn't even a place to stand.

"Let's go out and take a look," Kirito said cautiously, sensing that something was off about the place.

When the group walked out of the cave and arrived at the first blessing point, they saw a group of players' phantom images appear next to the blessing point.

The next second, these players knelt on the ground with expressions of utter despair, screaming in anguish and despair.

"Are you kidding me?! I spent three hours finally finding a blessing point, and then a dragon came crashing down and instantly killed me! All my efforts were for nothing!"

"Ah—! Playing in the mud! I finally won a fierce battle with the enemy and managed to find a place to catch my breath, but then a sheep next to me saw me and headbutted me... Ughhhhhhh!"

"I was just looking at the edge of the cliff... when a bat suddenly attacked me..."

In an instant, all the players who revived near the blessing point were devastated and collapsed.

Leng Mo breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this. It seemed that death was not the end; resurrection was still possible.

However... I always felt that true death was a kind of relief for them. This situation of endless resurrection and endless suffering, with no way to escape, was simply too torturous.

Ugh! Just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle. It's okay for a short time, but for a long time... it's too painful.

By the way, where's the white mask?

I didn't see him. Did he get beaten up by some reclusive players?

Leng Mo looked for a long time but didn't see the white mask or any messages on the ground. He felt something was subtly wrong and realized something was amiss.

"Amo, what are we going to do now?" Jinmu was a little at a loss when he saw this situation.

"We haven't figured out the situation yet. After all, I don't know what the conditions for clearing this world are, and..."

Leng Mo noticed something, bent down, pinched a handful, rubbed it in his hand, and then smelled it. There was a putrid smell, and each grain of soil had a distinct tactile feel.

Is this world really a game?

As soon as he finished speaking, something flickered in Leng Mo's eyes.

"You mean this might be a real world?" Kirito's eyes widened upon hearing this, and he realized that if it were really a game, it certainly wouldn't turn into the Elden Ring.

“It’s quite possible. I don’t feel like I’m in a game at all. What do you guys think?” Leng Mo was a little unsure, after all, he had come in wearing a game helmet.

"Hiss... Now that you mention it..." Senior Xiaoyuan sensed the gravity of the situation and began to ponder, rubbing her chin.

Kazuma turned to look at the cliff next to him and said, "I'll give it a try."

"?"

Before anyone could react, they saw Kazuma leap off the cliff.

"Robert!!"

boom--!

A loud crash echoed from below the cliff, and then... nothing more.

Neither Kazuma nor Kazuma were seen to have been resurrected.

"Hey—! Kazuma—! Are you dead yet??"

After waiting for a while and seeing that He Zhen had not revived, Leng Mo shouted towards the cliff.

Then Kazuma's voice came from below.

"I'm not dead, I'm still alive! I can't get up here! And there's no map boundary, it might be the real world."

"Got it! Go find a place to commit suicide and resurrect!"

"You won't believe it, but as the ultimate life form, I can't die!"

"..."

For a moment, Leng Mo was caught off guard and scratched his head in bewilderment, turning to look at the others around him.

Madoka, Tatsumi, Kaneki, Kirito, and Homura Akemi were all completely bewildered; none of them had expected this situation to arise.

"What should we do, Amo?!"

Kazuma's voice came from below.

"Can't you just climb up?"

"Okay...I'll climb..."

Finally, resigned to their fate, they began climbing the mountain.

It looks like he won't be able to climb up anytime soon... but that's okay! We don't need to worry about him!

Leng Mo stroked his chin, lost in thought: "It seems this game is even more powerful than we imagined, directly transporting souls to other worlds."

"So what do we do?" Kirito felt a headache coming on. If this were a game, it would be fine, as you could speedrun through it. But if it's not a game, it's hard to speedrun through, and there's simply no way to complete it.

"How about we split up first and then meet up at the Ereshkigal Church? It's the place where we first met Lani."

"Okay, let's start searching for clues first. We'll discuss it later." Kirito nodded in agreement.