I'm a Sword Master in Sword Art Online

For some reason, perhaps due to the fear of death, he suddenly felt a tightness in his throat.

Looking down at his sword-wielding hands, he recalled how these hands had won the national kendo championship trophy in the real world, touched the sun-warmed wooden floor of the dojo, and even remembered the cool water droplets on his fingertips when he handed a bottle of water to his junior, Kirigaya Suguha, yesterday.

The confident words of his juniors echoed in his ears.

—【Just wait and see how I defeat you, senior!】

As the blade's spine barely parried the sparks flying from the claws, the wolf arched its back, poised to pounce, a low, metallic growl escaping its withered throat. The next second, the wolf pounced again.

The moment it pounced, time seemed to slow down.

He could see the saliva stuck to the wolf's fangs and the strands of Asuna's hair being blown by the wind.

Death had never felt so real, not just a casual "Game Over" in a game, but a nauseatingly visceral experience of bloodshed. He suddenly realized that if he died here, the girl would only be met with a corpse wearing an NERvGear, its brain tissue roasted.

He bit his tongue hard, and as the taste of blood filled his mouth, his kendo master's voice suddenly boomed in his ear: "A swordsman is one who swallows fear and his guts along with him!"

Mochizuki Kaede held the sword horizontally in front of her chest and suddenly smiled. It was strange; she was terrified, her heart was about to explode, yet the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. Perhaps it was because she remembered that junior always saying, "The way you look so focused when you hold your sword, senior, is so cool."

The sound of swords cutting through the air mingled with the howls of wolves. Mochizuki Kaede thrust out his longsword against the stench of the wind, suddenly hoping that his expression in the real world wouldn't be too ugly at this moment.

The arc of the sword's blade cutting through the air was so similar to that of a bamboo sword. As the wolf's claws grazed his cheek, he smelled the rusty scent of blood mingling with the sandalwood fragrance of the dojo from his memory.

Asuna's breathing was rapid behind him, like that of a frightened little animal. Mochizuki Kaede's sword finally came to a steady stop in front of the wolf's throat—just like countless times in the dojo, when his bamboo sword stopped precisely in front of his opponent's protective gear, down to the millimeter.

Then—pierce!

The wolf turned into fragments and vanished.

The amount of experience points he had gained appeared in front of him.

Another wolf came running over.

Mochizuki Kaede took a deep breath, his sword tip slightly lowered, assuming his most familiar middle stance. Over a decade of swordsmanship training transformed into muscle memory at this moment, suppressing fear deep within his heart. The wolf pounced, and his strike was faster than he could think.

Chapter Seven: The Labyrinth

When the last wolf fell to Wang Yuefeng's sword, this "battle for life and death" finally came to an end.

"Are you... okay?"

Mitt's voice seemed to come through a layer of frosted glass.

Wang Yuefeng looked at his sword-wielding hand, a few blue specks of light drifting from his fingertips—data dust left behind after the wild wolf's death. He slowly sheathed his sword, the metallic scraping sound particularly jarring in the silent wilderness.

Mochizuki Kaede shook her head, her Adam's apple bobbing, but she couldn't utter another word. Instinctively, she clenched her trembling fingers. The pain of her nails digging into her palm was so real, so despairingly real.

He turned to look at Asuna, the always elegant and composed young lady who seemed to have lost her soul, her amber pupils unfocused, reflecting the blood-red sunset.

"Asuna."

Mito called out again, her voice as soft as if calling to a fragile dream. Asuna trembled as if waking from a dream, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

"Why...why did it turn out like this..." Her fingers unconsciously clutched the front of her uniform. "What happened? Why can't I log out of the game...? Midterms are next week..."

Mito suddenly stepped forward and embraced Asuna. Her purple ponytail cascaded down, like a curtain concealing Asuna's devastated expression. She gently stroked Asuna's back, her movements so tender, unlike the warrior who had just wielded the giant scythe.

“It’s alright,” Mitt’s voice was low and firm.

Asuna's voice trembled with tears: "I know nothing about this game... I'm terrible at games... I'm not like you guys..."

Mito hugged her tightly and gently stroked her long hair: "Asuna, it's okay. Trust me, I'll protect you. Aren't we best friends? We'll beat the game together and then return to the real world together. When that happens, we'll go to the real world to eat the sweetest cake and turn everything we've experienced here into stories we can tell with a smile."

Mito's words seemed to have an effect, and Asuna's sobs gradually subsided.

After a long while, she finally raised her tearful eyes, her gaze passing over the purple strands of hair on Mito's shoulder. Mochizuki Kaede was nodding gently at her, silently conveying a sense of comfort. The boy's silver-white hair was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The figure suddenly overlapped with a scene from her memory: a boy in black standing before the mourning hall, thin as a fallen leaf in the rain. The rain was heavy then, so heavy that it drowned out the footsteps of all the mourners. Only she remembered the promise she had made to those empty, silvery-gray eyes on that damp, cold afternoon.

"Ah."

The weight of two comforting messages entered Asuna's heart, dispelling her fear.

She took a deep breath, the damp wind filling her lungs. She felt a long-suppressed emotion slowly dissolving in her chest.

I slowly closed my eyes, then opened them again, and the world before me became clearer.

"Thank you, Mitt." She reached out and grasped her best friend's shoulder, her fingertips applying a slight pressure. Then she turned to the silver-haired boy beside her, a long-lost smile playing on her lips, "And Xiaofeng."

She gazed at the darkening sky, where the first star had already appeared:

We must return to the real world together!

……

Time, like sand, slipped away silently in the floating city of Aincrad. Seven days were enough for three initially unfamiliar players to gel as a cohesive team.

A damp, cold wind billowed from the depths of the cave, and water droplets condensed on the rock walls dripped down, echoing clearly in the silence. Mitt walked at the front, her purple ponytail swaying gently with each step, the giant scythe in her hand tilted slightly, ready to face any sudden attack.

"This place shouldn't have been discovered by other players yet."

Mite lowered his voice, his fingertips tracing the moss-covered carvings on the stone wall: "During the closed beta, the monsters in this maze respawned very quickly, but the treasure chest drop rate was also very high."

Asuna gripped her rapier tightly, its blade reflecting the faint phosphorescence of the cave. Her breathing was light, but her heartbeat quickened slightly with an unknown tension. Mochizuki Kaede walked beside her, his left hand resting on the hilt of his sword, his right hand slightly extended forward, ready to provide support at any moment.

Suddenly, the shadow ahead began to wriggle.

"coming!"

Mitt gave a low shout and suddenly retreated.

In the darkness ahead, a seemingly ordinary boulder suddenly trembled. Pebbles tumbled down the rock face, accompanied by a low, rumbling sound, like rocks rubbing together.

—That's not a stone.

The two-meter-tall body slowly rose to its feet. Its rough rock surface was covered with moss and cracks, and its joints shimmered with an eerie dark red light. It had no eyes, but the three of them could clearly feel that some kind of primal malice had locked onto them.

The stone golem's heavy footsteps shook the ground slightly. It slowly raised its right arm, which was a giant, angular rock, and smashed it down on the three of them with a dull thud!

"spread!"

Before Mitt's shout had even finished, the three of them had already separated like arrows released from a bow. Where the giant fist slammed down, the ground cracked and rubble flew everywhere. Asuna's boots slid away, scraping against the flying rock fragments, and her rapier drew a string of sparks from the stone golem's arm, leaving only a faint white mark.

"Joints!" Mitt's scythe whistled as it sliced ​​into the gap in the stone golem's knee. "It has a weak point!"

Amidst the cracking sound of shattering rocks, Mochizuki Kaede's figure leaped into the air. His longsword, propelled by the force of his descent, precisely pierced the crack in the stone golem's shoulder. The monster let out a deafening roar, its left arm sweeping across—

"Switch!"

Asuna's rapier suddenly thrust from the side, the tip piercing a mossy crevice in the stone golem's elbow. This strike delayed its movement by half a second, while Mito's giant scythe, carrying its full weight, cleaved towards the same wound.

"boom--!"

The stone golem's left arm snapped off with a crash, smashing to the ground and kicking up dust. But the monster didn't fall; its remaining right arm suddenly snapped back at an incredible angle, hurtling towards Asuna, who hadn't had time to retreat—

A flash of silver light appeared.

Mochizuki Kaede's sword blade wedged between the stone man's fingers, sparks flying as he was pushed backward. Asuna seized the opportunity to roll away, her rapier thrusting out again, this time aimed directly at the stone man's chest.

Mitt's scythe slashed at the back of its knee at the same time.

The moment the stone figure knelt down, all three weapons struck its core simultaneously.

A dark red light flashed violently, and then—

"boom!"

The stone guardian shattered into countless fragments, interspersed with a few shimmering, deep blue crystals. The cave returned to silence, broken only by the rapid breathing of the three figures.

The battle ended quickly.

Asuna gripped her rapier, breathing heavily. Mito flicked his scythe, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Good teamwork."

Mochizuki Kaede didn't respond, but instead looked deeper into the cave. The darkness there was even thicker, as if something was staring at them.

"Continue?" Mite raised an eyebrow.

Asuna took a deep breath and nodded: "Mm."

Mochizuki Kaede tapped the hilt of her sword lightly with her fingers, which was taken as her acquiescence.

The three of them stepped forward again, their footsteps echoing clearly in the silent cave.

Chapter 8: The Trap

"Asuna's swordsmanship has improved so quickly, even though she's terrible at fighting games," Mito teased, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Don't say that." Asuna looked down at the rapier in her hand, her fingertips gently tracing the blade. "Fighting like this doesn't seem too difficult."

Mochizuki Kaede didn't interrupt, his eyes beneath his silver hair calmly scanning his surroundings. His sword remained unsheathed, its tip slightly lowered, ready to respond to any unexpected situation.

"Let's go ahead," Mito said to Mochizuki Kaede and Asuna.

The three continued deeper into the area, but soon, Mitt suddenly stopped.

"Tsk." She stared at the ground, her brows furrowed slightly.

A treasure chest, pried open, lay askew in the corner, its lock broken, and its interior empty.

“Looks like someone’s already been here.” Mitt slung his giant scythe over his shoulder and sighed. “The person who could find this high-level hidden maze and navigate the treasure chests so easily… must be a closed beta tester.”

Closed Beta Players: Before the official open beta of SAO, there was a two-month closed beta testing phase. Players who participated in that test were called closed beta players, and Mitt was one of them.

Asuna crouched down, her fingertips touching the edge of the treasure chest, where some scratches still remained: "What did they take?"

"Who knows? It could be rare materials, or it could be equipment." Mitt shook his head. "In any case, the good stuff has already been snapped up."

Continuing onward, they discovered several more opened treasure chests along the way, all of them completely looted. Mitt's expression grew increasingly grave; clearly, someone knew this place better than they did, and acted with remarkable speed.

Just as they were about to turn back, a series of noisy roars suddenly came from ahead.

"Wait." Mite gestured, and the three of them immediately lowered their bodies and slowly approached, hugging the rock wall.

Turning the corner, the sight before her made Asuna's pupils shrink slightly—

In the open cave ahead, two players stood back to back, surrounded by a dense swarm of goblins. There were at least fifty of those ugly green-skinned creatures, perhaps more.

They bared their uneven, yellow teeth, thick saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths, their hunched bodies were covered with data-generated scars, and their turbid eyes gleamed with cruel light.

Rusty daggers, spiked wooden clubs, and chain hammers tied with stones—these crude weapons were wildly swung in their hands, the clanging of metal and piercing screams filling the entire cave.

"Why are there so many monsters here?" Mochizuki Kaede frowned, her voice extremely low.

Mitt's gaze fell on a pried-open treasure chest on the ground, and his face darkened: "They've fallen into a treasure chest trap."

Asuna gripped her rapier tightly and instinctively took a step forward: "I have to help—"

"No!" Mitt grabbed her wrist, the force almost making her stumble. "There are too many of them; we can't handle them!"

In the very instant they were arguing, the situation on the battlefield ahead took a sharp turn for the worse.

"Back to back! Don't let them break through the defenses!"

A swordsman player clad in light armor shouted, his longsword flashing a pale blue light. Three charging goblins were sliced ​​in half at the waist, their bodies exploding into polygonal fragments. But the gap was instantly filled by more monsters, who pounced over the dissipating data debris, their weapons leaving dangerous trails of red light in the dim cave.

"HP has dropped to the yellow zone!"

Another player, wielding dual short swords, spoke in a hoarse voice. His left arm hung limply, orange particles of light representing damage constantly splattering from his joint. Just as he spoke, an arrow wreathed in purple poisonous mist suddenly shot out from the shadows, striking his thigh precisely. Spiderweb-like cracks immediately appeared on the hit area, and the [Paralysis] symbol appeared on his health bar.

The goblins roared in victory, and behind them stood an elite monster, twice the size of its kind, its rotting skin etched with shimmering runes. It wielded a bone hammer wreathed in lightning, emitting a sharp, commanding screech. Instantly, more than twenty goblins leaped into the air.

"careful!"

The swordsman player turned to help, but was surrounded by a group of goblins. He fought back fiercely, but it was too late. The short-blade player barely parried two incoming daggers, but a third goblin's spiked hammer slammed heavily into his chest.

The player with the short sword saw his health plummet to the red zone at a visible rate. Then, four short swords wreathed in red light simultaneously pierced his body—

"Uh ah ah!"

Amidst a piercing scream, his body exploded into countless polygonal fragments, his equipment and items scattering as particles of light.

The remaining player's eyes widened in fury. Suddenly, his longsword emitted a dazzling golden effect, blasting away all the surrounding goblins. But more monsters surged forward, stepping on the data debris, and the elite monster's raised bone hammer began to gather blinding lightning.

Three goblins leaped onto his back simultaneously, the red light from their weapons carving dense cracks into his armor. Another plunged a dagger into his abdomen. The elite monster's lightning bone hammer crashed down with a deafening crackling sound.

The moment the swordsman's health reached zero, his body transformed into countless particles of light that rose and dissipated.

The air seemed to freeze.

Mito's hand pressed tightly against Asuna's shoulder, and he could clearly feel her body trembling. Mochizuki Kaede's sword tip rose slightly, but Mito had already grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"Let's go." Her voice was cold and hard. "If the monsters find us, we're doomed."

Asuna wanted to say something, but Mito grabbed her hand without giving her a chance to refuse, turned around, and quickly retreated. Mochizuki Kaede followed closely behind, and the three of them slowly retreated along the shadow of the rock wall until the sunlight outside the cave shone on their faces.