I, Asuna, don't want to travel around the world

"Bah baa baa baa!!!"

It was a pure white silver fox.

But at this moment, her condition was a little bad.

There was a lot of dust on the snow-white fur, making it look a little dirty.

Looking at its mouth, which was breathing in cold air, you could clearly see traces of blood slowly dripping out of its mouth. Having lost its fangs, it could only stare at Asuna with vicious eyes and let out a protesting growl.

Its sharp claws scratched the ground gently, but it seemed that its power was limited.

It seemed... that even Asuna's armor couldn't be scratched.

"Is this the only one?"

Asuna listened carefully for a while, but there was no other sound except the sound of wind and the rustling of leaves.

"Could it be that my brother has encountered the real gatekeeper boss?!"

Leafa said to Asuna with some concern.

(Kirito: Ah, that's right, and I'm already dead, so it's up to you guys from now on!)

"Probably!"

Asuna thrust the rapier in her hand forward, aiming directly at the fox's head.

"Shh!"

However, what Asuna did not expect was that the fox did not dodge and allowed her rapier to pierce its head.

"Oh!"

With a slight explosion, the silver fox's body completely turned into a ball of mist and exploded.

Asuna frowned slightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on the mist formed by the fox explosion.

The cats in the previous copy will strengthen themselves by devouring their own kind.

But this fox has become more like mist than that...

Asuna looked at the thick fog surrounding her and felt something was wrong.

"We...could we have already entered the monster's belly?"

Asuna swung her rapier and dispersed the mist that still vaguely retained the shape of an animal.

"Lifa, carry Maple on your back and let's go back the way we came."

"it is good!"

With Asuna's help, Leafa carried Maple on her back, and the three of them quickly walked up the stone steps.

Behind them, two ice-blue flames slowly rose up, circling around the mist that Asuna had dispersed, and re-condensed into the body of a white fox.

The surrounding fog slowly fed into the petite body of the white fox, making its size slowly grow larger, but the teeth in its mouth never grew back.

Seeing this, the firelight flashed in the air, and then completely hid in the fog, and followed Asuna and the others closely together with the white fox.

Asuna looked back frequently because she always felt like something was staring at her from behind, which made her feel a chill.

"Asuna, what's wrong?"

"No... nothing... maybe it's my illusion..."

Seeing Asuna repeatedly looking back at the thick fog behind her, Leafa couldn't help but look back as well.

However, there was no abnormality at all.

Hearing Leafa's question, Asuna shook her head, but the vigilance in her eyes did not diminish at all.

"...let's go."

The fog around seemed to have become much thinner, and the chill behind me gradually became closer as the fog disappeared.

But, Leafa seemed to have noticed nothing?

Is it just directed at me?

"That fox...it seems like it's not dead at all..."

Asuna held her rapier tightly in her hand, alert for any possible attack from the thick fog.

Maple was lying dazed on Leafa's back, but she always felt that something was secretly watching her.

Moreover, he is very cautious and will stop at the first sign of trouble.

After taking a quick glance, he suddenly turned away, and then, not long after, the gaze returned!

This happened over and over again, making Maple feel very uncomfortable.

She put her arms around Leafa's neck, rested her chin on Leafa's shoulder, and rubbed her cheek against Leafa.

The voice was somewhat weak and said:

"Lifa-sister...something is watching us from behind."

"Yeah.

Leafa and Asuna looked at each other, and then she patted Maple's little butt.

"Hold on tight, we're going to speed up!"

"oh oh."

Maple tightened her arms, and then Asuna and Leafa sped up at the same time.

"call!"

The two of them stared at the stone steps beneath their feet because they were their only landmark.

The white fog in front of them was knocked into two human-shaped holes by the two of them.

It was as if someone had fallen from a great height into the deep snow, leaving behind two human-shaped pits.

“Poof!!!!”*2

Two figures rushed out of the thick fog, but even so, they did not stop and quickly rushed up the stone steps.

"boom--!!!"

Ice-blue flames suddenly burst out from the thick fog, dyeing the vermilion on the torii gate completely ice blue.

"Pfft~!"

A huge white fox jumped out from the flames, and its originally dark eyes completely turned into two burning flames.

"puff!"

It fell heavily from mid-air, stopped on the stone steps, and opened its huge mouth towards the ice-blue sea of ​​fire behind it.

The raging flames turned into a line of fire and were swallowed by the white fox.

The pure white hair was stained with a layer of blue flame as it absorbed the flames, especially on the limbs and head. The ice-blue flames burned in the void, as if it was wearing a coat of flames.

It’s just a pity that even though the white fox has completed its transformation, the missing fangs in its mouth have never grown out.

When it opens its mouth to absorb the flame, it always gives people a weird feeling.

"Hoo~!"

The white fox burped as if it was full, and short ice-blue flames spurted out of its mouth.

The bluestone steps had been melted beyond recognition by the flames, but the originally vermilion torii gate still stubbornly maintained its original state.

The huge white fox slowly raised its head and looked up the stone steps.

Its gaze passed over Asuna and the other two, and over the layers of torii that it hated but could not destroy.

Until a certain moment, a flash of scarlet flame flickered in its eyes, which had turned into ice-blue flames.

"Roar--!"

It growled, twisted its huge body, and rushed towards the source of the fire.

"Boom!!!"

"Tsk tsk tsk!!!"

The habitual leap made it forget that its body was no longer as petite as before, and it crashed directly into the torii!

A vermilion light suddenly burst out from the torii.

The snow-white hair mixed with icy blue seemed to have been severely corroded, instantly exposing the flesh and blood.

And the scarlet light continued to corrode its flesh and blood mercilessly.

"roar----!!!!!"

It let out a shrill scream, and its huge body slammed down onto the stone steps.

As the contact disappeared, the scarlet light slowly dissipated, leaving only the white fox gasping in pain on the stone steps.

Chapter 26: The Fox and the Butterfly (Reward 2/20)

"Hey, Sister Asuna, Sister Leafa, look, there's a fire behind us!"

Maple loosened her arms and pointed behind them. From there, they could faintly see a flash of ice-blue fire fighting against the scarlet light.

However, after a while, the ice-blue light disappeared, followed by an extremely shrill scream of an animal.

Asuna and Leafa looked at each other, and then Leafa took a few steps back with Maple on her back.

Asuna, holding a rapier, poked the vermilion torii pillar beside them.

"It's okay, don't worry."

The contact between the rapier and the torii did not produce any changes.

"It seems that these torii gates are not just "decorations"."

Leafa came over with Maple on her back and said with a sigh.

"Well, if we encounter a monster later, we can just force it to this torii and use the power of the copy itself to destroy it."

Asuna nodded, then turned her gaze to the top of the stone stairs: "Let's go find Kirito-kun."

It's been so long, and he still hasn't come back... and... the scream just now was so loud, Kirito-kun should be on his way back, right?

"Yeah." Leafa responded softly, then she used her arms to lift Maple's hips and move her body upwards. "Let's go, hold on tight, Maple."

"Ok!"

Seeing that Maple had recovered a lot, Leafa finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of them started walking again, quickly running down the stone steps.

However, compared to their speed, the white fox with ice-blue flames wrapped all over its body was even faster.

Having learned from the lesson just now, its body shrank a lot, but the wound on its back never healed and just became a scar.

Even the ice-blue flame covering its body deliberately avoided the new flesh and blood part that had lost its fur, as if without the protection of fur, even its own flame would hurt itself.

"thump!"

The front paw carrying fire fell on the stone steps, leaving a deep claw mark.

The white fox's body sank, and the flame on its white claws exploded slightly, like a jet, exerting stronger kinetic energy, making the white fox's speed faster and faster.

"thump!"

"thump!"

"thump!"

If possible, it even wanted to stand on the flames and "fly" directly over, but the torii here had suppressed too much of its strength, so it could only run on the ground.

The three little men who had inadvertently helped it get here have appeared in sight.

The white fox did not stop for a moment, but rushed forward at a faster speed.

Its target has never been these humans.

"Jumped...jumped over?"

Maple was lying on Leafa's back, staring at the white fox wrapped in ice-blue flames that flew directly over their heads, and her mouth opened wide.