A journey to another world starting from a sword

"Wow——————" Lingyin opened her mouth wide in surprise, while gently covering it with her small hand.

A huge blue crystal embedded in the rock strata directly in front illuminates the entire space, and the surrounding stone walls and corners are filled with clusters of crystals that emit bright light. This is a huge cavern that is several tens of meters high.

"Ah...ah..." Lisbeth was speechless at this point. She had only one thought in her mind: to pry off all these beautiful crystals.

Asuna didn't make any sound of surprise like the other two, because she had a strong, inexplicable sense of foreboding.

She didn't know why, but it made her feel very uncomfortable.

His gaze swept across everything within his field of vision, "?"

Just then, she noticed a person lying on the ground not far away.

Staring nervously at the humanoid object, the "Target Acquisition" skill's enhancement effect automatically activated, causing the resolution of the area of ​​focus to instantly increase.

It's definitely a person.

I took a few steps forward.

"What's wrong?" Lisbeth turned her head and asked in confusion.

"Alert." As soon as she finished speaking, Asuna saw a green cursor appear above the person's head, not the color of an enemy.

Slightly relieved, she quickly walked over while keeping an eye on her surroundings.

"Dark Elf?"

Upon closer inspection, she was a petite woman with milky-white skin, long, straight purple hair, and wearing a tight-fitting blue-purple short top and long skirt. She was not carrying any weapons or metal equipment.

But his ears are pointed, just like Kizil's.

Could he be a NPC in the storyline?

It's not surprising that Asuna would have this thought, because even without armor, no player would come outside the safe zone completely unarmed.

But would dark elves appear on the twenty-seventh floor, so far from their base? In the months since they left the ninth floor, they hadn't encountered any elven strongholds again.

A series of questions disturbed Asuna's thoughts. She gently squatted down next to the girl and shook her shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"There are still people here?" "Elves?"

Lisbeth and Lingyin also came over and stared at the girl on the ground.

"Hmm..." With a soft moan, the dark elf girl seemed to be waking up from a dream. After a while, she opened her purplish-red eyes, which shone like dazzling rubies under the reflection of blue light.

Her first words upon waking were, "Ah, is this Alfheim Online?"

A big question mark appeared in my mind. This didn't seem like the beginning of a mission. Did she just say "Online"?

So Asuna tentatively asked, "Um...excuse me, are you a dark elf?"

"Yes!" The purple-haired girl nodded solemnly and happily. "Beautiful lady, I am a dark elf."

Chapter 166: Were you originally a player?

"Big...Big Sister?" This was the first person to call her that. Asuna paused for half a second before extending her hand to the dark elf girl. "Anyway, please stand up first. My name is Asuna."

"Asuna, big sister, your name is so beautiful. My name is Yuki." The girl Yuki took Asuna's hand and used her arm to help her stand up.

"Yuki..." Asuna felt that this name didn't sound like an elf's name, but rather like a player's.

Just as she was about to ask something, she saw Ji Zheng looking around at his surroundings with an expression that was just like most players when they first entered the game—full of curiosity and eager to explore.

"This place is so beautiful," Yuki said with a happy smile.

No, this can't be a player. Putting aside the elf's ears, even a novice like this couldn't possibly have reached this level.

But I'll ask anyway.

"Hey, you—"

Before he could finish speaking, the ground suddenly began to shake.

"What? What happened?" Yuki asked, her eyes wide.

"What's going on?" Lisbeth immediately gripped her warhammer and shield tightly.

"It must be a monster," Lingyin guessed, and she, Asuna, and Lisbeth formed a triangle to keep watch over their surroundings.

"Everyone! Be aware of your surroundings." Asuna quickly drew her sword, shielding the unarmed Yuuki behind her.

"Okay." "Don't worry."

As members of the strategy team, the two of them already possessed a high level of combat proficiency. Even without Asuna's command, they knew what they had to do.

After assuming a fighting stance, they each used their eyes to observe the ceiling, stone walls, and the ground beneath their feet, blocking out any possible attack points from their dwelling.

"Where exactly..." Asuna didn't see any enemy cursors in her field of vision. She glanced around and even the girl Yuki behind her was still green.

A series of cracking sounds came from inside the semi-enclosed cave, clearly audible.

The three of them immediately realized that it was the sound of crystal breaking, and sure enough, the largest crystal in the center was showing cracks.

The emitted blue light completely obscures the interior of the crystal, but there's no doubt that something will emerge from within.

“The triangle,” Asuna instructed Liz and Lingyin.

“Okay.” Lisbeth immediately stood to Asuna’s right rear.

"Yes." Lingyin was standing to his left and behind.

The triangle formation is widely used in military or sports competitions, and it is also a common tactical formation in Aincrad.

"Is a monster about to appear?" Yuki peeked out from behind Asuna.

"Yes, Yuuki, be careful. Liz, protect her," Asuna said.

"Don't worry." Lisbeth tapped her shield with a one-handed hammer, revealing her white teeth.

"Ooo ...

"Wow, it's so big!" Yuki murmured unconsciously.

"It's alright, not too strong." After confirming that the monster's cursor wasn't a dark red color, Asuna breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, for a floor near the front lines, to defeat this kind of wild boss, you would need to gather at least a full squad.

But that applies to other players. As long as they aren't too strong, the three of them are enough.

"Liz stays behind as instructed, Lingyin and I will go together." Asuna raised her sword and charged towards the construct.

"I understand." The next second after Asuna rushed out, Lingyin quickly circled around from the side.

The giant fist made of rock, carrying air currents, came hurtling towards her. Asuna stopped her charge and retreated rapidly by touching the ground with her toes, sparks flying as her sword tip scraped against the rock wall.

The moment the gravel grazed her ear, she suddenly bent down and slashed from below her fist, launching a single low thrust technique called "Tilted Thrust," her rapier transforming into a streak of silver light as it pierced straight into the joint gap.

Stone fragments flew everywhere, the cold glint of the rapier sliced ​​through the dust, and the rider dodged a swinging rock fist by sidestepping, using his heels to propel himself up onto the protruding rocks.

Then she tapped the construct's elbow joint three more times with the tip of her sword, sparks flying and the sound of crystals shattering.

While the construct was attacking Asuna, Lingyin had already approached the monster and used her one-handed straight sword's horizontal double attack technique, "Vertical Arc Slash." With a muffled sound of the rock shell exploding, the sword sank three-quarters of its length into the ground.

The construct then let out an angry growl, and as it tried to turn around, Asuna suddenly leaped onto its left shoulder.

With his left hand gripping the protruding stone spike for balance, he flicked his right wrist and once again assumed the stance for the "Meteor" thrusting technique with his rapier.

Although "Meteor" is a single-hit sword skill like "Linear Attack," as a thrusting technique, "Meteor" has a much longer attack range than "Linear Attack." Once you get used to it, you can treat it as a special kind of movement.

In her regular practice, Asuna had become quite proficient at it, even in PVP battles.

"Wow, that's amazing! Asuna-neechan is so powerful!" Yuki exclaimed, her mouth agape in shock from the rear of the battlefield.

“Of course!” Lisbeth said with a proud smile. “Asuna is the second strongest among us.”

"Who is number one?" Yuji was surprised that there was someone even more courageous than this NPC lady.

“Of course it’s our president.” Yuki’s cooperation greatly stimulated Lisbeth’s desire to perform. She gave a thumbs up and said with a hint of pride, “That guy is simply inhuman.”

"That rascal?"

"Ahem... I misspoke, it's 'that guy in my family.'" Lisbeth realized she had gotten carried away. "That guy" was a rather rude term, not suitable for a cute girl like her to say.

"Our family?" Yuki tilted her head in confusion.

"Yes, yes, everyone in our guild gets along like family."

"Guild? You...aren't you...story NPCs?" Yuki asked in surprise, the word "guild" making her realize something.

"...What did you say?" Lisbeth was stunned for a moment, and asked stiffly, forgetting to be wary of her surroundings.

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

The two looked at each other in bewilderment. Just as Yuki was thinking that the other party was indeed an NPC and couldn't understand such words, which was why she was in a daze, Lisbeth took the opportunity to shout.

"You...you...you were a player before?"

Chapter 167: Is there anything you want to say to people in real life?

"Eh? Eh? Eh—?" Yuki covered her mouth. "Am I not playing through the beginner's storyline?"

"What are you talking about? The newbie is already on the first floor... No, SAO doesn't even have a newbie storyline." Lisbeth retorted sharply.

“SAO? Isn’t this ALO?” Yuki felt like he’d heard of SAO somewhere before, and then he remembered: wasn’t SAO the super famous death game that was released last year?

"This is SAO. By the way, what is ALO?" Lisbeth had realized the seriousness of the problem.

At this moment, the construct's arm-swinging and striking movements became much slower due to the damage it had suffered. Asuna's boot heel kicked heavily into its arm, and the sole of the boot rolled over the flying rubble, using the force to leap up.

As the last boulder grazed the hem of her billowing coat, she adjusted her beloved sword mid-air, using the force of gravity to make the final cut.

As the structure disintegrated into polygonal fragments and disappeared, the light in the cave suddenly dimmed considerably.

"Phew—" Asuna relaxed her tense body after sheathing the rapier "Meteor" at her waist, and then said to Rei-in, who had helped her a lot, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Asuna, you've worked hard too." Lingyin replied with a smile, "Ah, so many ore-type items dropped."

“Liz will be happy too,” Asuna said with a smile, then looked at Liz and Yuki, only to find the two of them glaring at each other.

So she quickly went over and asked, "What's wrong?"

“Ah, ah, ah…Suna.” Lisbeth almost couldn’t speak, her finger trembling as she pointed at Yuki, “This is a player!”

"......!" Asuna and Rei-in looked at each other with an "Eh......?" expression, and immediately turned their faces toward Yuki.

"It seems so." Yuki laughed awkwardly, "Hahahaha..."

"Medicuboid" is a medical device that applies NERvGear technology to reduce the suffering of patients by allowing them to project their consciousness into a virtual world.

Yuki is an HIV patient, or AIDS patient. However, she did not suffer from this incurable disease because of her own actions, especially since she was only 12 years old. The cause of everything was an accident.

When she was born, her mother had a difficult labor and decided to have a cesarean section. Due to the accident, she suffered severe bleeding and came into contact with blood infected with the virus during an emergency blood transfusion, thus becoming an HIV carrier.

February of this year marked her first time using Medicuboid for full-dive. As a beneficiary of the high technology promoted by Kayaba Akihiko, she was among the first to experience the full-dive technology's spillover effects. However, so far, she has only played some small games, such as farming and puzzle games, which have many limitations.

So, "ALO," short for "Alfheim Online," which was released in June, became the first RPG game with a high degree of freedom that she played.

When it was first released, this game, which was touted as surpassing SAO and being absolutely safe, received widespread attention.

The game's name comes from the World Tree in Norse mythology, the towering ancient tree that stands in the center of the ALO world, and players can choose from nine elf races.

“I chose the Dark Elf,” Yuki said, pointing to herself. “It has night vision and the ability to fly at night.”

"It can even fly?" Lisbeth exclaimed in surprise.

“Liz…” Asuna gazed at her.

"Haha, sorry, I went off-topic," Lisbeth said, embarrassed.

Lingyin gently raised her hand and said, "Wait, since Miss Yuki entered through a device called 'Medicuboid,' can she log out of the game?"

"Just call me Yuki," Yuki said cheerfully, then immediately gave a wry smile, "I just tried..."

She raised her right hand, extended her index and middle fingers and waved them downwards, but nothing happened.

"But I can't even bring up the game menu."

"..." "..." "..."

Asuna, Rei, and Lisbeth fell silent for a moment.