I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

But given the current situation, no one would believe it's not a cheating scheme...

"Thump!" With another muffled sound echoing in the space, Heathcliff's health bar was down to just two bars.

“Ugh… Damn it…” Heathcliff was constantly on the defensive.

He did consider retaliating, but Jill's movements were too fast; he could barely catch them and was hit by attack after attack.

When I came to my senses, my health bar had gone from ten full bars to two.

One of them is still around 30% gone.

This is terrible... ugh...

"Aren't you going to attack?" Heathcliff panted, looking at Gil. "I'm almost there! Brave warrior, overcome me!"

“Cross over?” Jill laughed as if she had heard a joke. “You’re not qualified to use the word ‘cross over’.”

“What…” Heathcliff’s face showed shock, but he still stared intently at Jill.

At that moment, he was momentarily dazed, and when he looked at Jill again, he smiled.

"If it is someone like you who surpasses me, then I will not feel ashamed."

"Soul Flash - Full Moon!" With the final strike and the shattering sound effect, Heathcliff's health bar was completely reduced to zero.

Heathcliff's body shattered into countless fragments.

The crisp sound of shattering echoed into the ears of everyone present. Looking at the shards scattered in all directions and Jill, who looked like a god bathed in the light of the shards, every player seemed to lose consciousness and stood in place like a puppet.

"it's over……?"

After a long silence, a voice filled with uncertainty and disbelief rang out from the crowd…

The voice was like waking up from a deep dream, as if the past year or so had all been just a dream.

“It’s over…” The other players repeated the words, filled with uncertainty and disbelief, their eyes fixed on the scattered fragments.

It seems that even now, they still can't believe that those are Heathcliff's—or rather, Kayaba Akihiko's—body...

has it ended?

This sentence surfaced in their minds more than once during the time everyone was in a daze. They trembled all over, their fists clenched until they turned white, as if they were trying to hold back something.

Finally, tears streamed down the face of one of the players.

"it's over……"

"Yes...it's over..."

"it's all over……"

"it's over!"

All the top players who came to participate in the boss battle on the 75th floor shed tears. Regardless of whether the people around them were people they knew or strangers, they hugged each other tightly and cried uncontrollably...

At this moment, the ecstasy of completing the game, the pain of the past, the fear of past deaths, and the hope for the future all turned into tears that fell on the spot.

Jill felt a cool liquid sliding down her face.

“…My dearest friend…our reunion…is one step closer…” Jill wiped away her tears and looked at the room in the maze area.

Everyone was cheering with their partners.

But the boy in the middle looked so lonely...

It was as if no one could stand beside him.

No… there must be such a person, but that person doesn’t exist in this world…

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Incident

Game walkthrough complete — Game walkthrough complete — Game walkthrough...

With that sound, Jill's consciousness went into a state of chaos.

Here, the sunset seems to set the entire sky ablaze.

Beneath my feet lay a thick crystal floor. Beneath the transparent floor, clouds, tinged red by the setting sun, drifted slowly by.

Looking up, you can see the sky, dyed red by the setting sun, stretching endlessly into the distance.

The boundless sky displayed a gradient of colors, changing from vibrant vermilion to blood-red, and then to purple. A gentle breeze could also be heard.

Apart from the clouds shimmering with golden-red light, there was nothing else in the sky except for a small crystal disc floating in it.

Jill was standing on this crystal disc at that moment.

"here it is……"

"Isn't it beautiful?" asked a shrewd-looking man in a white coat, gazing down into the distance.

"Well...it's the place I've lived in for over a year...I do have some feelings for it..." Gil looked down. "Right, Kayaba Akihiko?"

"Yes, it's a pity that no matter how beautiful this place is, it will disappear."

Kayaba Akihiko said this as if he were expressing his feelings.

Far below on the horizon, a colossal steel city floated up, hovering in the air with no ground to its side—this was Aincrad.

However, at this moment, this magnificent and colossal castle was slowly disintegrating, breaking into countless pieces like shattered stones, scattering below in the endless expanse, and disappearing from their sight...

Seeing this, Gil looked at Kayaba Akihiko and asked, "Are you willing to do this?"

Kayaba Akihiko's eyes trembled for a fleeting moment, but he quickly regained his composure and said expressionlessly, "Ah, it has fulfilled its mission. For it, this outcome is undoubtedly the best..."

“...Is that so…” Jill replied softly, “Actually, I might feel a little reluctant to leave that place.”

Kayaba Akihiko turned his head and looked at Gil.

“After all, it’s a place that gave me some good memories,” Jill said with a smile. “After all, I think that world is beautiful too.”

Kayaba Akihiko remained silent for a long time before a slight smile appeared on his lips, "That's good..."

“Kayaba Akihiko, I must say, you’re a genius,” Gil said again. “Although this game still has some flaws in my opinion, it is undeniably an excellent game.”

“To receive praise from the [World Healer] is truly an honor I’ll never forget…” Kayaba Akihiko said with a smile.

“Time’s up.” Jill looked at the massive, collapsing floating castle in the distance. “Thank you, Kayaba Akihiko, for giving me a year and a half of wonderful memories.”

Kayaba Akihiko didn't say anything in the end, but just smiled at Gil.

Then, the world before Jill's eyes turned pitch black once again.

……

"Doo-doo..." A faint sound came from the hospital bed in front of me.

The middle-aged man with short black hair looked towards the hospital bed.

On the hospital bed, the boy with long golden hair slowly opened his eyes.

"Young Master, you're awake!" The man dressed as a butler looked at Gil with surprise in his eyes.

The boy was Jill, but because he hadn't cut his hair for over a year, it had grown very long.

Moreover, an intense feeling of hunger instantly overwhelmed his consciousness.

The memories implanted in him by the template told him that the man in front of him was his so-called guardian and butler in this world.

“Dean…” Jill’s lips moved.

"Young master, do you have any instructions?" Dean immediately put his ear close to Jill's mouth.

"...Get me...something...to eat..."

"...Yes, Master."

……

Thirty minutes later, Jill put down her rice bowl and let out a long sigh of relief.

Ah, that feels so good.

Although it was just porridge, and the process was rather slow, Jill still felt very satisfied.

“Young Master, these are documents accumulated by the company, which you need to review personally,” Dean said to Jill, holding a stack of documents.

“Okay, just leave it there.” Jill nodded, then ruffled her medium-length hair.

Hmm... Not cutting my hair is really awful. I should probably get it cut first, otherwise I really do look like a girl...

As Jill touched her hair, she consciously thought this to herself.

"By the way, Dean, could you help me look into these people? Even though it's just an SAO ID, I'm sure you can find them..."

Although Jill was still a bit weak, based on past experience, he estimated that his mental and physical strength would return to their peak in less than two days.

Holding the yogurt container, Jill casually picked up the documents and began to review them, stack by stack. Since she was bored anyway, she might as well try reviewing documents.

Anyway, it's not like I didn't review them back then; it's just that there were more documents at that time, although there were people to share the workload.

The documents were reviewed in less than half an hour. Bored, Jill picked up her phone and started playing games.

After a routine of shipping, Dean returned.

"Young Master, here is the information on those people."

"Okay, put it there." Jill picked up the documents and started looking at them.

Seeing that everyone had woken up, Jill smiled with relief. However, when her gaze swept over the last person...

Dean, standing to the side, saw that his young master was clearly emanating a powerful aura.

"...Young Master, what happened?" Dean asked.

“…” Jill was silent for a moment before slowly speaking, “Yes, something happened…”

Jill stood up. "Come with me, Dean."

"Young Master, where are we going?"

“Go help someone.” Jill took a chocolate bar and chewed it to replenish her energy. “Kayaba Akihiko wouldn’t do something so clumsy. It can only mean that someone exploited a loophole in SAO when clearing the game.”

"...Young Master, are you referring to the fact that the lady with the ID Asuna hasn't woken up yet?"

"Yeah, that's right, there must be more than just her." Jill finished her chocolate, took another one from the snack box, and asked.