She got the quest as soon as it was announced, and it sent a shiver down her spine. "Suko you bastard," she muttered under her breath.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" She looked shocked at Asuna's severe language and the hate behind it.

Taking a steadying breath for her daughter's sake, as calmly as she was capable she replied "I'm okay Yui, but this quest is bad news for me. The admins might be able to get Mommy with it."

She hadn't seen it coming, but she should have. With her stats and spells she would be hard to take down by most players in this game. Possibly all of them. But she wouldn't be against just one. She'd be against all of them. Sheer numbers would bring her down eventually.

And if they didn't, the fight would catch Suko's attention if it went on long enough and he'd send his own NPCs to finish the job. Possibly come himself and stop her with his admin powers.

No, fighting wasn't an option. Hiding wasn't really an option either though. She would be found eventually. There simply were too many players and not enough space. And while she hid she wouldn't be looking for Kirito. He was here, somewhere, and that took precedence over even escaping to real life.

Well if those two options were out, then disguising herself was the obvious solution. Illusion magic was the strength of the Sprigin race, and any race's specialty was also her own. She could assume the appearance of anyone she chose, or, to prevent the chance of running into the original, a form of her own design. Naturally she's going with the latter.

It'd take time to make the illusion perfect though. So hiding for a time was going to be necessary. A day at most, but she hated any time taking her away from her search.

"Yui, can you find any place to hide near us? Someplace players don't go usually?"

A thoughtful look crossed her daughter's face before she replied. "Let me look Mommy." A few seconds later Yui looked up. "There's a couple of places, but the best option is a raid zone. If you enter you'll be in your own instance where no one else can reach, but there are players waiting at the entrance.

"There's also a set of caves. I don't know how many players go there, but currently it's empty. The town we passed is still being faught over by the giants and players. There's a cellar there that is secure and empty. Since they're fighting they may not look for you there."

Asuna contemplated the options. The raid was the most tempting. She knew she could bust through to the entrance without a problem. The trick would be leaving. Word would spread she was there and who knew how many players would meet her when she left. A single player leaving by herself would be suspicious enough that no illusion would hold up to their scrutiny.

The caves were uncertain. They were safe for now, but who knew for how long? And if she was found she'd be cornered and possibly trapped like a raid boss and attacked in the same way.

She dismissed the town right away. Nothing there would likely hurt her, but the chances of someone finding her was way too high, and while she thought there wasn't any players that could defeat her she wasn't as confident against multiple giants at the same time.

The caves were the best option, regardless of the risks.

"Lead me to the caves Yui."

Smiling brightly with relief Yui replied "Of course mommy!"

Once they got to the caves she had Yui bring her to the deepest part which led to a dead-end with nothing there. No trade materials, no monsters to loot. No reason for any player to go there unless they were completely unaware of the area. It was the best spot they were likely to find.

Safe for now she turned her attention to the illusion she was going to cast. First she needed to decide on race. She reviewed what she knew about them. Spriggans were the least combat-oriented, so her best option was to go with the most combat-oriented. She hoped players would see it and not look any deeper for illusions. As an added bonus Their advantage at flying would help hide her even higher advantage.

She looked at her daughter. "What's a Salamander typically look like?"

Eyes going wide, Yui asked, "Are you going to make yourself look like one Mommy?" At Asuna's nod, she continued "okay! Well, typically they..."

The next day Asuna woke up with a grimace. She'd gotten the hair color and armor right already, as well as the skin color. The wings had been the tricky part and still out of reach. Yui had repeatedly tried to describe them, but without something visual it was proving impossible. The wings were identical from person to person so any deviation would call attention to her.

She was going to take advantage of the fact they didn't show while they weren't in use and hope she ran into one in flight so she could copy them.

She'd decided to keep most of her physical features the same. The less she changed the less that could go wrong. To that point she'd cut her hair short. Later she would get dye to keep the color. But for now, the illusion would do. Between those changes and the reddish tinge to her skin she already looked like someone new.

"How do I look?" she asked Yui.

"Scary! But pretty mommy. Mommy is already pretty."

"Then let's go face this world," she said resolutely. "Have you had any luck finding Kirito?"

"No mommy, he's still outside of what I can see," Yui answered with a shake of her head.

She needed to understand how limited her ability is. "How far is that exactly?"

"I can load the map of our current zone. Inside that I can scan map topography in a five-hundred meter radius. But for player IDs I can only scan in a three-hundred meter radius."

"How did you find these caves then?" she asked incredulously.

"They're marked on the map of course."

Feeling a bit silly at asking an obvious question she turned her thoughts to how quickly she could do a grid search and the numbers weren't good.

The distance Yui could look was way too limited, but it was something. At least she wouldn't need to actively search every nook. A fly-by would be enough to find him. That was going to have to do for now.

"Pick a direction Yui."

"Um..." She looked around and then pointed randomly. "That way mommy!"

"Okay," and she started walking.