A journey to another world starting from a sword

"That's it..."

Nochiras followed behind them, listening to their conversation the whole time, and casually sent the news that the Eternal Garden guild leader had been in the labyrinth area for two days to the guild.

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"What a... rare guest! Welcome." Dante looked at Nochiras, who was dressed in red and white, and sized him up. "The Knights of the Blood Oath?"

“Yes.” Nochiras replied briefly, his alarm bells ringing as he glanced at the other man’s flashy white vest and shirt. “I knew I was right to come along.”

"Arno, what?" Yuna asked, turning around with a strange expression.

"It's nothing," Nochiras shook his head. He watched as his childhood friend sat between Mitt and Ashurai in the Eternal Garden, then found a stool on the edge of the bar and sat down. He then walked past several girls and asked someone, "Didn't you go into the maze area and not come out for two days?"

"More or less," Dante, who was several people away from Nochiras, nodded. "What's wrong? Curious?"

It wasn't something that needed to be kept secret, because no sooner had he returned than Argo would sell this information to anyone who was interested. It could be said that a large portion of the daily expenses of the strategy group guild was spent on this.

So he explained directly, "I've already seen what the Boss looks like. It won't be long before the thirtieth floor is conquered."

"So fast?" Yuna exclaimed excitedly, squeezing her cheeks together with her hands.

"Maybe," Dante shrugged. "After all, this is a boss from a multiple-level area."

By now, players have basically grasped the pattern: the difficulty of conquering a boss is significantly higher when it is located on a floor that is a multiple of five or ten, with the twenty-fifth floor being a complete disaster.

"So, it seems you've taken command of this campaign," Noziras said disappointedly, planning to go back and tell the guild.

"By the way, what's the boss on the thirtieth floor?" Yuna asked curiously.

"Well done, Yuna!" Nochiras thought to himself, clenching his fist.

"The boss is the Kraken, a monster covered in tentacles. The more people there are, the harder it is to deal with. According to the normal strategy, each squad should have at least two main tanks and a spare off-tank to defend against the tentacles' attacks from both sides, while the others attack the tentacles when the opportunity arises."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Dante picked up his wine glass with one hand and took a sip.

"Definitely no problem." With a smile, Yuna picked up her glass and gulped down her drink, taking a full five seconds before exhaling and licking her lips. "By the way, your outfit is really cool! Is it one of Miss Li's new designs?"

“Hehehe…” Jeliska laughed first, and under Yuna’s puzzled gaze, she explained, “Our guild members have said this almost all over again.”

"I see," Yuna exclaimed, sticking out her tongue.

"It's my new design," Ashura said proudly, patting his chest. "The coat is finished, and I'll design a tuxedo another day."

"I don't really like suit-style casual wear," Dante said helplessly. Even though Ashura tried to incorporate suit elements into his battle suits as much as possible, there was no need for casual wear.

“A suit is the armor of a modern knight,” Ashura insisted. “I’ve done everything I could to ensure comfort.”

Swirling her wine glass, she kicked her long, high-heeled leg forward, "If I were making suits in real life, I'd definitely choose you as my model. Look..."

She raised her glass, speaking meaningfully, "Long arms, long legs, long torso, and even Kimba is long..."

"Pfft—" Mitt spat out a mouthful of wine. "Cough cough cough, Ashurai, how did you know...?"

"I don't know," Ashura said with a wicked grin, his eyes seemingly mocking Mitt.

"Oh my, really? President?" Jeliska, sitting to Dante's left, chuckled lightly.

"Alright, enough with the dirty jokes." Dante clapped his hands together, rolled his eyes, and said, "There's no alcohol in the wine, after all. There are minors here."

"Huh?" Yuna finally realized. "Ah, it's okay. Me, Mit, Lingyin, and I aren't children anymore."

Chapter 191: The Campaign Against the Kraken

“Indeed.” After considering for a moment, Dante quickly nodded, then took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Mitt. “Boss, give her another glass of gin.”

"Okay," replied the burly, bearded man behind the bar.

"Thank you." Turning her face to the other side, Mitt took the handkerchief and wiped her mouth, but after seeing Ashura's subtle smile, she silently turned her face back again.

"Dante, have you ever written a love song?" Yuna immediately asked another question.

"Ah." Lingyin tensed up instantly, as did Nochiras on the other side.

"Love songs?" Dante asked in confusion. "Yuna, why are you suddenly interested in this? I've never heard you sing them before."

He knew that Yuna was actually very interested in pop music and could sing some anime songs, but unfortunately, because she studied classical music, she was better at songs with a sense of history, like arias.

"It was just a random idea, and I wanted to learn from your experience." Yuna blinked lightly. Because Lingyin was sitting between the two of them, and was also looking at Yuna, Lingyin felt that Yuna was talking to her.

Since she doesn't want to talk to the guild members, then let them bring it up themselves.

“Experience…indeed, it’s not quite enough if it’s just the kind of longing that comes from reading shoujo manga.” Dante nodded understandingly. “But I don’t have any good ideas for you.”

“Eh————” Yuna looked disappointed.

"Don't be like that, I'm not going to give you a love song," Dante chuckled. "If you really want to write one, how about you go and have a relationship yourself?"

"Hmm, it seems that only girls in love can write love songs." Yuna, sitting on a high stool, playfully swung her legs, which were clad in navy blue stockings.

"In real life, there are also cases where people fall in love to write a love song, only to break up with each other at lightning speed afterward," Dante chuckled.

"So there are people like that." Lingyin was startled.

"Hey, didn't you aspire to be a singer? How come you don't even know this?" Ashura teased.

The conversation gradually shifted to dreams for the future. Apart from Jeliska, who seemed to be a reserve corporate slave, everyone else was dreaming about the future.

Dante smiled, took his wine glass, got off the stool, and sat down next to Nochiras at the very edge.

"What's wrong?" Nochiras's attitude was hardly friendly; in fact, he seemed to always be like this, never bothering to smile at anyone other than Yuna.

"Don't look at me like that. It's my treat. Drink whatever you want," Dante said when he saw that the other person's glass was empty but hadn't been refilled.

“There’s no need for that. I’m not here to drink,” Nochiras said.

“We’re about done,” Dante said with a smile. “I didn’t come here specifically to drink. Boss, give him a glass of Aquavit.”

"When do you plan to organize a strategy meeting?" Nochiras asked seriously. This was the usual practice, with the guild that first discovered the boss room organizing the meeting to discuss the strategy.

By the time you reached the teens level, this task had become almost exclusively assigned to a few guilds, without exception.

Around the twentieth floor, groups like Linde's "Dragon Journey Group" never regained leadership, which explains why they sought change.

"A strategy meeting..." Dante's eyes narrowed beneath his tousled golden hair, as if he were deep in thought.

Nochiras frowned as he waited for a response. "Let's make this clear first: even if you have the leadership, the Knights of the Blood Oath are the strongest."

Even the chairman said that he was stronger than this man during the day.

Then he took a big gulp of the newly ordered drink... and the next second he spat it out. "What... what is this?"

"Yes, yes." Dante responded perfunctorily, not bothering to argue with Nochiras about who was the strongest. Now, apart from Kayaba Akihiko, who had been released, there was no one else he could truly take seriously.

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"We'll be doing a Boss reconnaissance battle tomorrow." After returning to the guild, Dante sent this message to the guild communication. Apart from the group of people who went out drinking that night, everyone else was probably already resting.

My stomach was filled with a lot of cold liquid, and the evening breeze made me feel a bit cold, even though it's almost midsummer night. The temperature on some of the more habitable floors in Aincrad is truly a model of mild winters and cool summers.

“…” After pausing for half a second in front of his room, Dante turned around and walked downstairs without hesitation.

No one in the guild has the habit of locking the door. Of course, people usually knock before entering, but this doesn't apply to this situation.

When Dante turned the doorknob, he found Argo asleep, curled up on his side on the bed, looking more like a kitten than a mouse.

Oh, the blankets are warm.

After crawling inside, Argo was moved outwards a bit, and as expected, Argo was awakened by the sudden chill.

"What?!" Argo was shocked. This person...

What are you doing here?!

"Squeeze it in."

“Ah, what a matter-of-fact tone.” Argo turned around and elbowed him, binding his entire body.

"Stop fooling around, aren't you sleepy?" Dante's tone was quite helpless. The delicate body in his arms tried to struggle a few times, but then gave up.

"Whose fault do you think I woke up?!" Argo muttered in anguish, feeling a rush of blood to her head as her back pressed against a hot body.

"What? Isn't there no pop-up to prevent sexual harassment?" Dante whispered in Argo's ear.

"Hmph, if I had one, I would have sent you to the Black Iron Palace immediately. Then you and that guy Fang Wang could explain why you suddenly ended up in prison," Argo muttered, shrinking his neck.

"How unladylike!" Dante grumbled. The word "guy" in Japanese is a very rude usage, and few people would use it, let alone a girl.

"I'll bite you!" Argo said sullenly. "I'm telling you, you'd better set your alarm and get out before dawn."

"Why didn't you order it?" Just as Dante was about to tease her a little more, he felt his arm, which was resting on Argo's chest, being bitten hard by her.

This made him look at Argo’s neck. Come to think of it, he was a Night Dweller. What did the player’s blood taste like, or was it tasteless? Dante was now a little curious.

"Wait!"

"HP! HP is dropping!"

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Early in the morning, Argo touched her neck, which still throbbed with phantom pain, and was relieved to find that there were no teeth marks. She was at the back of the group, in the position of a rear guard, responsible for eliminating potential threats from behind. After all, one couldn't expect a lightly armored warrior like her, who had almost all her points in agility, to be at the forefront.

However, to other guilds' heavy armor warriors, their combat attire, which resembles paper, makes them quite unique.

"Um... is it really okay for me to come along?" Leafa asked Asuna worriedly.

"It's alright, it's not an official battle after all. Let's treat this as an operation in which the entire guild participates." Asuna comforted the uneasy Leafa, while Yuuki seemed much more fearless in comparison.

"Hmph hmph~" It seems that Yuki really treats this as a picnic.

Jeliska, who was also walking at the back of the group, couldn't help but reach out and pat the other's head, saying, "So cute."

Despite being almost a generation older, in Jeliska's eyes, Yuki and Silica were indeed her little sisters.

"Eh?" Yuki quickly shook her head; this was exactly the reaction she was expecting when she was suddenly touched.

"Speaking of which, where is the guild master?" Lisbeth, who was walking at the front holding the tower shield, turned around and asked Asuna.

“He might be waiting for us in the safe zone,” Asuna replied after examining the map, since messages couldn’t be sent in the labyrinth area, and even she couldn’t confirm the other party’s location.

She looked up and smiled gently at everyone, saying, "Let's have lunch in the safe zone before we set off."

"Oh!"

Asuna prepared a bento box with bagel sandwiches and fruit yogurt. It could actually be a breakfast dish, but since it was convenient for a picnic and she had stewed mackerel and rice for breakfast, she was happy with a simple lunch.

"So slow!" Dante, standing in front of the Boss's room, finally saw the guild's main force arrive late.

"It's your fault! Why are you waiting for us here?" Lisbeth pointed out loudly.

"Are you alright?" Dante asked, his expression much calmer.

"You are the one who went in just now, didn't you?" The perceptive Asuna stepped forward and exhaled a long breath first.

"More or less." Dante let out a confident laugh. "This monster is a bit different from the ones before. Its main body shouldn't move until the very last stage. The first thing to deal with is the dense tentacles."

“What? You make it sound so impressive.” Argo stepped forward and complained, then shared the information she had gathered over the past few days, “The Kraken here seems to be different from the one in Norse mythology. The one in SAO is a ferocious predator that swallows its prey that is pulled in by tentacles whole.”

"Ah, if a player gets swallowed by that giant mouth, they'll be instantly killed," Dante warned. "However, because of the main body, the tentacles are of limited length, so you can proceed with confidence in the early stages, but it will become more dangerous towards the end."

"Anyway, the goal this time is to familiarize ourselves with the Boss's attack patterns as much as possible, right?" Silica asked, raising her fist.

"Okay." Dante gave an encouraging smile. "Let's do our best, everyone. Argo will be in charge of guarding the door. Asuna, Mito, Lingyin, Liz, Silica, and Koharu will form two teams to attack. The rest of you will surround Jeliska on the outermost perimeter."

Next is the establishment of a joint force, although even if you are not members of a guild, you can still see each other's HP bars.

Entering the dimly lit room, Dante gestured to Jelisca to place the flag very close to the door.

After understanding, the tall female flag bearer unfurled the precious guild war flag in her hand, and the violet emblem instantly appeared on the battlefield.

When Boss Kraken reappeared, he was beyond ugly; he clearly sided with the evil god Cthulhu.

The monster's large, serrated mouth was covered with countless spider-like eyes, and its skin was a muddy, brownish-green. The predatory flowers at the tips of its tentacles opened and closed.

"Here it comes! Listen carefully to the instructions. At first, just hold them off!" Dante, Asuna, and Mito stood in a triangle formation.

Liz and Lingyin, who can both equip shields, were assigned to opposite sides. Silica and Xiaochun, who both use short swords, definitely couldn't be grouped together.

Judging from appearances alone, it remains to be seen whether the leather equipment worn by everyone can withstand the boss's ferocious attacks.

But if you knew that the materials used to craft equipment, including weapons, were mostly derived from various bosses, such as the neck feathers of the Great Griffin, the leather of the Ghost Wolf King, the leather of the Sea Dragon, the scales of the Linde Bug, and the gem on the Sphinx's head...

As long as they are not compared to those tanks that wear heavy plate armor, have no output at all, and cannot even fight alone, the equipment made from materials of monsters that sound like legendary monsters that are personally defeated ranks among the top in terms of defense in the entire strategy group.

"attack!"

After Dante shouted that, the three sides advanced forward in a triangular formation, entering the Boss's targeting range. They then stopped at the point closest to the core, thus needing to deal with tentacles from three directions simultaneously.