And finally, the morning of the strategy meeting arrived.
It was decided that it would be a bit difficult for Lisbeth to participate in the boss battles on the next floor.
I decided not to participate this time.
"Sorry, both of you."
"No, Liz, there's nothing to be sorry about."
"That's right, Liz, just do your best with what you can do.
That should ultimately help us.
I think I said this before, but it's not true that only those who fight directly are great."
"Yes, thank you. I'll take good care of your weapons,
So you two, make sure you come back with a win."
"Yes, I promise."
"Yes, I promise."
After a quick discussion, it was decided that Asuna would head to the venue alone.
Hachiman said that Argo worked hard to make it in time for today.
I quietly placed the boss edition guidebook in the tool shop and then headed to the venue.
Seeing Asuna sitting alone in the back, Hachiman sat down next to her,
I asked Asuna to explain what had happened up to this point.
With a rather gloomy look on her face, Asuna began to explain what had happened up to that point.
"The person in charge seems to be that Diavel guy.
I think he said that he was mentally doing it as a knight."
(Knight... I'd like to say I'm a Shadow Assassin as well.)
When Hachiman heard this, his chunibyo almost resurfaced.
Asuna, not even noticing Hachiman's inner thoughts, continued her explanation.
"Then, that guy with the weird hairstyle named Kibaou..."
"Weird hairstyle? Ah, it's him."
"Yeah. That guy, right before the meeting, he suddenly told all the beta testers to come out!
"It's your fault that 2,000 people died! You have to take responsibility!" he said..."
"Huh? What's that?"
Hachiman said with a shocked look on his face.
"Then, afterwards, that big black man called Egil said that the information was correct,
So I guess the situation calmed down for now. I've seen that Egil guy before at the church,
He seemed like a nice guy."
"I see"
After the process was explained to Hachiman in detail, he regretted the naivety of his assumptions.
Then he remembered the contents of the boss guidebook and turned pale.
(Damn... It's fine to mention the confirmed information, such as the number of enemies and the possibility of changing weapons, but
The sword skills used by enemies, estimated HP, damage amount, and other data,
This information is from the beta test and may change in the final version.
That sentence was bad. Did Argo know that it would end up like this when he wrote it? That guy...
I never expected there to be such a big gap between newbies and beta testers.
One thing is certain: Argo is in danger if things continue like this.)
"Hachiman, is something wrong?"
Asuna asked worriedly, seeing Hachiman's gloomy expression.
Hachiman tried to suppress his impatience and explained to Asuna what he had just thought.
"Argo is in a dangerous position..."
"Yeah, if things continue like this, that's very likely."
"Diavel-san!"
At that moment, a player came rushing into the venue in a panic.
"Diavel-san, we now have this item in the tool shop!"
"Hmm? Is this... the boss version of the Book of Rats?!"
"You just found the boss room. Why did you find it so soon?"
"Such detail... I'm impressed...
Yeah, this should work, numbers-wise it doesn't seem that strong."
However, after seeing the contents of the book, Kibaou started making a fuss again, ignoring the excitement.
"See! That woman really has something to do with the beta testers!
He must be a beta tester himself! I need to hear more about this!"
Several people agreed, saying, "That's right!", and the mood in the room immediately shifted to criticism of the beta testers.
Hachiman was desperately thinking of how he could bring this situation to an end.
(First, direct the anger at me. This should be considered criticism of Kibaou.
There must be a good reason for this that everyone can understand logically.
Although I was hooked on this game after the Christmas event and became a little more positive,
As expected, the more sudden Hachiman's response to such a situation is,
It seemed like it was going to become something that was based on self-sacrifice.
If I had had more time to think about it beforehand, I might have found another way.
Unfortunately, this time there was simply not enough time or preparation.
When Hachiman made up his mind and tried to step forward, someone stopped him.
Asuna grabbed Hachiman's sleeve. He turned around to see what was going on.
There, staring intently into Hachiman's eyes, was Asuna.
Hachiman instinctively looked away. Asuna, seeing what was going on, muttered:
"on second thoughts……"
Hachiman wondered if his idea had been discovered,
While he was thinking of how to patch things up, Asuna suddenly leapt in front of Kibaou.
Kibaou was taken aback by Asuna's sudden appearance in front of him.
The other players around him were also quiet, wondering what was going on.
And in the silence, Asuna spoke.
"You don't want to get out of here? Why can't you just be grateful for the useful information?"
When Kibaou realized that it was a girl who had spoken those harsh words, he was speechless and froze.
At the same time, murmurs that it was a girl gradually spread throughout the surrounding area.
After that, the atmosphere in the room changed rapidly.
(That's right, this is just like the sports festival. Emotions are emotions. Remember what happened then.)
Hachiman quickly put his thoughts together to try to turn the tide at this point.
(Now is our chance. According to Asuna, it seems that Egil and Diabel are the ones we can rely on.)
With the surrounding area still commotion, Hachiman stood in front of Asuna, almost as if to protect her.
Asuna grabbed Hachiman's sleeve again, and Hachiman whispered to her in a low voice.
"Leave the rest to me."
"Are you okay? Are you doing anything weird?"
"ah"
Hachiman answered briefly, then tried to remain calm as he spoke to Kibaou.
"Kibaou-san, can I ask you something?"
"Hmm, what is it?"
Hachiman continued speaking, choosing his words carefully.
"I understand that you have some reluctant feelings.
I'm not going to unconditionally ask you to change your mind here. But...
Hachiman pauses and looks around.
"I believe that all of us here are gathered here determined to somehow overcome this nightmare.
And now, I had all the information and people I needed right in front of me.
I am deeply grateful for this situation. Hey, Egil, what do you think?"
When Hachiman suddenly spoke to Egil, he suddenly realized something and went along with it.
"Yeah. I want to return to the real world as soon as possible. I have someone important to me waiting for me. Just like you."
His calm baritone voice resonated persuasively throughout the surrounding area.
"What about Diavel?"
Hachiman then spoke to Diavel, urging him to bring the situation under control.
「Y-yes. Our enemy isn't the beta testers. It's the floor boss.
Let's keep quiet for now and be grateful for this information. Is that okay with you, Kibaou-san?"
Kibaou still didn't seem convinced,
Nevertheless, he seemed to be sensitive to the change in the atmosphere, as he spoke out loud:
"I, I'll accept that for now."
"Thank you, Kibaou-san."
Diavel smiled brightly and expressed his gratitude to Kibaou.
Perhaps lured in by this, the surrounding players also began to chime in with approval.
Hachiman felt the same atmosphere as Hayama in the Diavel,
"What a great way to set the stage," I thought to myself as Asuna and I sat down in our original places.
"That went well, Hachiman."
"Yeah. Asuna is amazing. That completely changed the atmosphere of the room."
"It seemed like Hachiman was trying to sacrifice himself again.
Sorry for being selfish, okay? But, if I do that, I'm sure Hachiman-kun will...
I thought that he would take over from me and sort this out somehow."
Of course, Hachiman had no intention of blaming Asuna for that.
On the other hand, he was grateful to Asuna.
"I definitely couldn't have done it alone. Thank you, Asuna."
"Yeah, you're welcome."
The meeting continued, and the next thing to be decided was to form the parties that would make up the raid.
"Asuna, what should we do?"
"They said there would be 45 participants in total, so I guess that means there will be one party of three.
For now, if there's a player out there who's alone, why not invite them out?"
Hearing this, Hachiman looked around.
A few people glanced in my direction, but they were shy and didn't call out to me.
Looking closely, it seemed like most of the people were in parties with people they knew.
Around us, parties of six were gradually forming.
Hachiman didn't think it was time to panic yet, so he continued observing his surroundings, but...
At that moment, Hachiman saw a certain player looking confused and alone.
(Hmm, it looks like he's the one with the extra one.)
Hachiman explained this to Asuna and asked if it was okay to invite her to the party.
And after successfully getting Asuna's consent, Hachiman headed towards that person.
The person also seemed to have noticed Hachiman's intentions, and began walking towards him.
"Hey, we seem to be both dangerous monsters, so why don't we form a party together?"
After hearing Hachiman's words, the man seemed to find them interesting and replied with a smile:
"Oh, if you don't mind me doing it then please do."
Hachiman returned to Asuna with the person, and the three of them briefly introduced themselves.
"I'm Hachiman."
"I'm Asuna."
"I'm Kirito. Nice to meet you both."
Hearing the name Kirito, Hachiman felt a memory stir.
I think it was at the beginning, outside the city...
"Hey, Kirito, did you know that in the beginning, there was a person called Kura,
Didn't he give you a lecture on fighting techniques?"
Kirito looked distressed for a moment after hearing this, but then
Immediately afterwards, as if he remembered something, he answered Hachiman.
"That's Klein. Ah, I thought I'd seen that face somewhere before.
So Hachiman is the one who was next to you that time?"
"Oh, what a coincidence."
"Haha, really."
Hachiman told me about Kirito's condition at the time,
It seemed that Asuna also thought that Kirito was a trustworthy person.
After that, the schedule for the joint exercises and the actual event was decided and the meeting was adjourned.
Since it was a three-person party, it was decided who would be in charge of the small fry,
Because Hachiman found it too much hassle, the three decided not to participate in the joint exercise.
The three were discussing what to do next when a man approached them.
The man, Egil, smiled and offered his hand to Hachiman.
"Hey, well done."
"Egil, you were able to read my intentions well just now, thank you so much."
"Hmm, perhaps we've met somewhere before?"
"Yeah, you were at the church last time, right? Then this one."
Hachiman stopped speaking and looked at Asuna.
"I'm Asuna. Nice to meet you, Egil-san."
Asuna caught his gaze and introduced herself to Egil.
"It seems that this Asuna happened to see you at that time,
I remember you complimenting me and saying I seemed like a nice person.
That's why I used you this time. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."
Hearing Hachiman's words, Egil was embarrassed, but smiled and replied that there was no problem.
Afterwards, Hachiman and Kirito also finished their self-introductions, and the four of them shook hands.
"Let's both do our best tomorrow."
"Ou"
"Yeah"
"Right."
So saying, Egil went away,
The three decided to check their formation and headed out of the city.
Outside the city, Hachiman is astonished when he sees Kirito fighting.
(This guy is amazing... he matched my timing in one shot...
Although I say it myself, our battles are fast and involve great combinations.
Not only is it easy to match up with that, but its offensive power is also incredible.
Isn't Kirito the strongest of all the SAO players right now?
Kirito, on the other hand, was surprised himself.
(What kind of high-speed combination is this? It's as fast as the top players in the beta era.)
Now that the three had confirmed the formation,
We decided to disband for today and prepare for tomorrow.
At that moment, Kirito hesitantly spoke to Hachiman.
「The truth is, I had heard rumors about them. I just knew they were an interesting and strong duo.
I didn't know who it was, but after seeing the battle just now I'm sure it was.
"So that's what Argo was talking about."
Kirito mentioned Argo's name, so they must be acquaintances.
Hachiman confirmed this with Kirito.
"Kirito, were you also acquainted with Argo?"
"Yeah, that's right. Anyway, today... thank you."
Kirito didn't say what he was thanking her for, but
Hachiman somehow understood what those words meant.
"I did it for my own convenience, so don't worry about it, Ki-bo."
"Wh, why do you call me that..."
"I thought maybe, but is that really the case?
He calls me Ha-bou too."
"Seriously, you two are so tough."
"Exactly."
The two of them laughed out loud, and Asuna was drawn in and started laughing happily too.
It hadn't been long since we'd organized the impromptu party,
A strong bond had already formed between the three of them.
"Well then, I look forward to seeing you both tomorrow."
"Yes, nice to meet you, Kirito."
"Nice to meet you, Kirito. That's right, let's punish Argo together after tomorrow's battle."
"That's great, I'm on board!"
"Then I'm on board too!"
The three exchanged farewells, and Kirito left looking very happy.
Hachiman was surprised at how he was able to talk casually with strangers he didn't know well,
At the same time, I felt comfortable with myself like that.
Asuna, perhaps having noticed Hachiman's behavior, asked him the following question.
"How about it? Do you think we could be friends?"
"I don't know, honestly, but it doesn't feel so bad."
"I see."
And so the three met, and finally, the day arrived when they would defeat the boss on the first floor.
13/1227
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