Crossover Anime: From DanMachi to Becoming a Garbage Scavenging Master

Chapter 82 The Death Game Begins

The central square of the starting town.

Blue light curtains flickered all around, and figures were teleported in. Asuna and her two companions, along with the black-haired man beside her, appeared at the edge of the plaza almost simultaneously.

"Forced relocation?! What on earth happened?"

Mito frowned as he explained the situation to Asuna and Yuuki, while also unable to hide his doubts—why would the game administrator suddenly resort to such methods?

"Ah—the exit option is disabled—"

The black-haired man stood to one side, nervously biting his fingertips, his voice trembling slightly.

"I have a very bad feeling."

Suddenly someone exclaimed in the distance—

"Look! What's that in the sky above the town?!"

Everyone looked up to observe the situation.

Initially, it was just a scarlet hexagonal warning box, suspended in the sky.

The chimes gradually faded, and the transmitted light ceased. The square became packed with people, almost filling the entire space.

The next moment—

What was originally just one warning sign has spread wildly in all directions like a virus.

Countless scarlet "WARNING" messages were constantly being copied and spread in the air, accompanied by a piercing electrical noise and a heart-stopping "buzzing" sound.

In no time, the entire sky was completely covered.

The red warning boxes were pieced together and eventually formed a huge hemispherical dome above the starting town, as if imprisoning everyone inside.

The crowd began to stir.

Some people looked around in panic, some shouted and questioned the administrator about what he was doing, and some young couples hugged each other tightly.

Then, unsettling crimson blood began to flow from the hemispherical dome, which then condensed in mid-air, with blue arcs of electricity flashing throughout, eventually transforming into the shape of a giant human figure draped in a robe.

"This...this is the game administrator?!"

Just as everyone gasped in surprise, the figure in the long robe spoke.

"Welcome, fellow players!"

"The world I created!!"

"I am the creator of this game, Kayaba Akihiko."

"As you may have noticed, the logout button in the main menu is disabled. However, this is not a bug in the game, but rather how SAO was conceived from the very beginning!"

"Now, none of you can log out of the game on your own, and people outside cannot interrupt NerveGear's operation either."

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"If there is any external attempt to forcibly intervene, NERvGear will detect the anomaly and send a special microwave signal to destroy your brain."

With a wave of his hand, numerous pre-prepared images appeared in the air—

It looks like a screenshot from a major news website, filled with images of people crying their eyes out.

"To date, 213 players have been permanently removed from both the real world and Aincrad as a result. As you can see, major news websites are continuously reporting on this."

"All of this is for a grand social experiment, one that could change the fate of humanity!"

After saying this, he opened his arms and began to describe his grand vision to everyone.

"To simulate the realities of surviving in another world, the resurrection mechanism in the game has been removed. This means that when your character's health reaches zero, your account will be permanently deleted, and you will truly die."

An uproar immediately broke out in the crowd.

Asuna found herself trapped in a virtual world, somewhat incredulously. Originally, she had only wanted to sneak into the game to relax, but now her mind was beginning to crumble.

The thought of her family members' anxiety and worry, and the extremely disappointed look on her mother's face, who had always longed for her approval, made her tremble.

Although Mito was equally shocked, after noticing Asuna's condition, he silently reached out and held one of her hands to comfort her.

Yuuki, who had only recently met Asuna, couldn't help but think of her family's reaction upon hearing the news when she saw Asuna's current state—

Her emotions fluctuated slightly, but having already realized what was happening, she quickly recovered. She quietly reached out and grasped Asuna's other hand, silently conveying her support.

Not long after, as if waiting for everyone to finish digesting the previous information, Kayaba Akihiko finally spoke again.

"If you want to return to the real world, then beat this game!"

"You are now on the first floor of the floating city of Aincrad. Once you climb to the hundredth floor and defeat the final boss, you will all be able to return to your original world."

As soon as the words were spoken, complaints and curses rose and fell in the square, all pointing the finger at the perpetrators of the disaster.

However, Kayaba Akihiko was completely oblivious to everything around him.

Before the commotion subsided, he spoke again: "Of course, I have also prepared commensurate incentives for all of you who participated in this death game!"

The scene in mid-air changed again.

The previous news screenshots have disappeared without a trace, replaced by photos of a room filled with treasure.

"I have converted approximately three billion US dollars of assets into cryptocurrency and locked it in a separate system. When the game is completed, all surviving players will receive corresponding rewards."

"Of that, about one billion US dollars will be divided equally among all the survivors. And the remaining two billion US dollars..."

He paused slightly, his tone seemingly carrying a hint of pleasure.

"The distribution will be based on everyone's contribution to this experiment!"

"Whether you engage in production or participate in combat, as long as you contribute to the game's progress, it will be counted towards your contribution."

The shouting and cursing in the square gradually subsided.

Instead, there was a somewhat oppressive silence and a sense of unease that quietly spread through the crowd.

"So—just by clearing the game, even without doing anything, you can still get about 15 million yen?"

Someone shouted out their converted number, and the next moment, many players couldn't help but gasp.

Just then, a man with a Kansai accent suddenly spoke up angrily: "What a joke! You dragged us into this death game without a word, and now you're talking about rewards? Are you trying to use this money to buy our lives?!"

"Who do you think you are? A god of the new world?!"

The crowd stirred again, many people were completely ignited by these words and chimed in with their own opinions.

However, this time, people were no longer as united in their hatred of the enemy as they had been at the beginning.

Unbeknownst to them, the crowd in the square had split into two completely different forces—one still driven by anger, resisting everything, their eyes filled with hostility and resentment.

Meanwhile, the other side, in silence, began to waver and start to calmly weigh the gains and losses brought about by this "game".

In this subtle and oppressive atmosphere, Kayaba Akihiko spoke again.

"I have prepared a special launch gift for you all. May you all have great success in your upcoming adventures!"

"As the creator of this world, I will always be watching over you from the shadows."

Then, his figure disintegrated again, turning into countless tiny specks of light that slowly dissipated in the air.