I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

Gil drew his katana and stared directly at the King of Taurus.

First, we need to draw the hatred towards them!

Jill gripped the daggers in the pouch at her waist with her left hand.

In SAO, there are throwing skills, among which the most common is the flying sword, which is a short sword.

Jill's flying sword skills weren't very high; although she couldn't hit the target every time, hitting such a large minotaur king was still quite easy for her.

As Jill ran to the side, she threw her short sword, which struck the King of Taurus.

The King of Taurus indeed set his sights on Jill.

“Okay…” Jill slowed down, creating distance once more, while focusing her gaze on the crown-like object atop the head of the King of Taurus.

“A weakness, huh?” Jill smirked. “Isn’t it just a way to target those of us who haven’t mastered skills like flying swords?”

In SAO, some people do learn the flying sword skill, although not many, but it is indeed true.

However, the main reason why few people learn the flying sword skill is that the "flying sword" is a consumable item.

Those who practice flying swords generally need to carry a lot of "ammunition," and once the ammunition is used up, they can only throw things like rocks in the maze area or in the wild...

However, such items do not deal much damage to bosses, and once the weapon is thrown, it is difficult to retrieve, causing the damage to decrease. Therefore, it can be said that the "Flying Sword" skill is practically useless.

Unfortunately, having a flying sword skill would obviously make the strategy much smoother when dealing with the current BOSS.

However, Jill never intended to hand over the strategy for defeating this BOSS to someone else in the first place.

"Thump..." Jill's foot left a long trail on the ground before she suddenly charged forward.

Before the BOSS's first health bar disappeared, the BOSS's movement speed was extremely slow.

Jill charged out, and then leaped into the air as the BOSS unleashed a wide-range hammer strike.

Because this body is made of data, Jill cannot jump very high.

However, Jill dodged the BOSS's hammer blows and stomps, and charged straight up along the Taurus King's arm, then slashed the BOSS's crown with her sword!

The BOSS's first health bar has noticeably dropped.

"Hey...you're kidding, right..." Diabel, who was treating patients in the back, watched this scene. "What's with this guy's attack power?"

Jill's sword strike nearly 15% of the Taurus King's first HP bar.

Moreover, this was just a normal attack, without even using any sword techniques!

The real reason is...

“Sure enough, that’s the weakness…!” Jill said with such certainty as she looked at the crown.

Chapter Twenty: Our Journey is to the Stars and the Sea

"Thump!" Jill slid down and landed on the ground.

"Ah, the movement has slowed down..." In Jill's vision, the movements of the King of Taurus became sluggish after Jill hit the crown.

Jill's eyes lit up with joy.

Once you find the weakness, the strategy becomes much easier.

The ensuing battle turned into a one-sided affair.

Heavy attacks rained down on the King of Taurus, causing his health bar to drop steadily.

Those who witnessed this scene were almost completely dumbfounded.

“…So strong…” Diabel murmured, “I’ve never heard of a closed beta tester having this kind of strength…Does that mean he’s not a closed beta tester at all?”

"Thump!" The BOSS roared as its last health bar turned crimson.

"Ooh-ah—!"

The King of Taurus swung his giant hammer with a tremendous roar. The ground rippled in concentric circles upon impact, followed by vortexes of electric sparks that spread outwards.

"Soul Flash - One Star!" With a special effect like starlight splashing, Gil leaped up using the surrounding terrain and slammed the sword into the forehead protected by the crown of the King of Taurus from mid-air.

"Ouch!" The BOSS screamed in pain as its health bar plummeted, leaving only a tiny bit remaining.

Ignoring everything else, Jill thrust her sword in again, reducing the BOSS's health bar to zero.

Then, the enormous body of the King of Taurus exploded as if it were about to spread throughout the entire arena.

"Congratulations!" The congratulatory sound effect rang out, and Jill breathed a sigh of relief.

This sound effect also appeared when the first-floor boss was defeated.

Unlike last time, this time Jill didn't complete the entire BOSS fight alone.

However, he also got two monsters' LA.

"Phew, finally it's over." Jill rubbed her shoulders and smiled.

He is in a good mood.

The two bosses in LA brought him a lot of experience and two pieces of equipment, so he was naturally in a good mood.

His current level and equipment are probably ahead of almost all other players.

Diabel looked at Gil and couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

“It’s practically legendary,” Diabel said.

“Phew, it’s over…” Jill exhaled, her crimson eyes flashing.

"...How strange...I feel like that memory hasn't completely disappeared from my body..." Jill muttered to herself.

The panel in front of him also popped up with all sorts of information, such as the experience, Cor, equipment, and so on.

Jill closed the panels, then turned around to face everyone.

The entire arena was so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop.

"Um, well...?" Jill tilted her head. "Shouldn't we all be cheering after defeating the boss?"

Diabel shook his head with a wry smile. "It's just that everyone was too surprised."

He single-handedly defeated the gatekeeper BOSS, demonstrating formidable combat power... This boy is truly astonishing.

“If it’s possible, I would like to invite you to join my guild [Dragon Knight], Gil.” Diabel extended an invitation to Gil.

“We [Aincrad Liberation Army] also invite you to join us…” Ya Wang immediately realized and said.

"Ah, this..." Jill scratched her head, "Let's forget about it, I'm just a solo player."

“However, if you don’t mind, you can invite me to the meeting to conquer the BOSS.” Jill sent friend requests to the two of them. “Alright, that’s all for now.”

Jill walked step by step toward the portal and opened it.

The heavy gate was carved with a bull-shaped relief. On the forehead of the bull, which had six horns, was a small crown.

Naturally, the boss of this floor is the "King of Taurus," so it's not surprising that Jill uses this image.

"The third level is right here, open it!" Jill pushed open the door to the third level and stepped into the portal.

The second layer of SAO was breached just ten days after the first layer was breached!

Naturally, much of Jill's news also got out.

The boy, who was brave enough to fight the second-level boss alone and whose "sword skills" were as beautiful as a dance, was also known as the "Sword Dancer".

Of course, that's all in the future. Jill was the first to step into the third level this time.

The first floor of Aincrad doesn't have a unified theme; if anything, it's a design that "has everything."

Rich in diverse terrains such as grasslands, forests, wilderness, and valleys, there are also many towns and villages outside the main area. Fantasy RPGs use this lively atmosphere to welcome players—however, under the current circumstances of [Death Game], only a few people will leisurely appreciate these landscapes.

The second floor, however, adopted a completely different design. The entire floor was covered in green pastures and multi-layered mountain structures, and most of the monsters that appeared were in animal form.

Perhaps because the first floor was quite difficult to conquer, the difficulty level wasn't increased much. The second floor, which gives a more leisurely feel, is probably themed "ranch". However, most players call it the "Cow Floor" because many of the monsters here are cows, and even the monsters in the maze area and the boss are minotaurs.

"In a sense, this third layer is where SAO truly begins..." Kirito said after Gil passed through the portal.

"Oh? How so?" Jill asked with great interest.

“Starting from the third floor, real humanoid monsters will appear. The kobolds on the first floor and the minotaurs on the second floor are demi-humans. Although they can use simple sword skills, they still look like monsters, don’t they? However, the enemies waiting for us on this floor are also monsters that look no different from humans. Apart from the colored cursor, there is no way to identify them…” Kirito said.

“…I see. Thank you, Kirito.” Gil looked at the town ahead. “But I don’t want to be trapped in this game like this.”

“I can feel it… I still have so much to do…” Jill murmured. “So, no matter what level it is, I will crush it! And beat this game!”

Jill stretched out her fist into the void, "Come on, even if this is the true beginning, it can't stop my path!!"

"Our journey is to the stars and the sea!"

Chapter Twenty-One: Legendary Figures Among Solo Players

One year and six months later.

The 74th floor of Aincrad, the labyrinth area.

"Bang!" A precise slash cut a huge wound into the lizardman's body, then the blade spun, and another slash came down in an instant—

The blond boy's two slashes reduced the lizardman's health bar by a significant amount.

Then, the lizardman was stabbed in the chest by the katana again, and his HP bar instantly dropped to zero, turning into countless fragments and disappearing.

"...The BOSS room on the seventy-fourth floor is really hard to find..." Jill looked at the maze area in front of her with displeasure in her eyes.

He first went to the wall, then sheathed his katana, opened the map of the maze area, and made another note on it.

If anyone else were to see Jill's map of the maze area at this moment, they would probably be astonished.

Because at this moment, almost 80% of the map of the entire maze area that Jill has opened is lit up.

This is only the fourth day since we conquered the 73rd floor! And Jill is a solo player; she doesn't have a team.

However, it is precisely because she is a solo player that Jill is able to traverse the wilderness without worrying about her teammates, and rampage through the maze area all by herself.

“That way, there won’t be many places I haven’t been to…” Jill tapped a few times on the map and made some marks.

Those places are very special rooms; although you can gain a lot of experience there, they are also very dangerous.

Let's pass this information on to the strategy team later. Otherwise, they'll keep blaming us for hogging resources and not providing information.