Artoria wants to read people's hearts

"How? Miss our savior, are you ready to fight?"

"Of course—" Nodding, Artoria didn't care about his hypocrisy at all, and there seemed to be an unquenchable flame burning in her eyes.

"—Slay the evil enemy, protect the companions, the long sword in my hand exists for this purpose!"

No.16 Chapter Flower Guardian (Two in One)

Kirito did not choose to participate in this raid because of the "Black Cats of the Moonlit Night".

[In order to prevent tragedy from happening, I must tell them the truth. ]

In the email Artoria received last night, the other party wrote this.

[As I just wrote, tell them the truth, this is what I will do tomorrow, Pendragon, I believe that even without me, you can lead everyone to the final victory, so please forgive me for tomorrow's actions Absent it. —— Kirito. ]

The occurrence of this incident really made Arturia feel a little dumbfounded, but since it was the other party's wish, she would respect the boy's choice.

Thinking of the childish faces of those members in her mind, she couldn't help chuckling.

There may be fights, there may be sadness, but all of them are good kids at heart.

So Kirito, don't be afraid, you all will be reconciled as before, and even better than before.

Because the night is cold, but people's hearts are not cold.

Under the moonlit silver sand, time passed, and now it has come to today.

---layer---

The temperature in the maze is much higher than the outside world. Not only that, but the closer the people in the strategy group get to the boss's room, the more they can feel the temperature gradually rising.

And the occurrence of this phenomenon made everyone in the strategy group look a little more dignified involuntarily.

In any case, it can be regarded as a professional strategy team. Judging from the combat experience in the past six months, they can also deduce something from the scene they are seeing at the moment.

For example, does such a high temperature environment also mean that there will be some factors related to 'fire' on the boss?

Of course, the game "Sword Art Online" does not have any magical elements, and the weapons used are mostly swords, sticks and axes. It can be said that it is a game of purely fighting with cold weapons.

Although with the assistance of the skill system, all the players can do is to use close-up skills to cause damage to monsters.

But this limitation is just a pointer. For players, there are various types of monsters in this game world, and their appearance is even more so.

Especially for bosses with strange shapes, their skill selection is not limited to melee attack, and it is normal for the attack mode to have a little 'fire' factor.

Insufficient information and the rigid condition of not being able to die made every player present feel a little heavy.

but........

Subconsciously, their eyes began to look for the figure that could bring them peace of mind.

The girl in the knight uniform came into view, which slowly calmed down their restless hearts.

Yes, what is there to be afraid of?

As long as there is her existence, then this strategy will definitely go on smoothly, as long as I don't hold back and try my best to assist the opponent.

There are not a few people who have such thoughts. After all, when a capable person is standing in front of the strong wind, other people will involuntarily choose to rely on her, and then blindly pin their hopes on one person. It can be regarded as a bad root of human beings.

They never thought about whether it would be too sad and heavy to place such a arduous task on a slender and young blonde girl.

Maybe some people thought about it, but even if they realized that it was wrong, they chose to keep silent.

What can be said?

Stand up and tell everyone that such an approach is not acceptable, and then justly accuse everyone of being immoral?

Do not be silly!

If this is really the case, then when will they be saved if there are no young girls fighting desperately in front of them?

If the matter has nothing to do with them, they may still be able to stand on the moral high ground and make condescending accusations.

but now.........

In order to be able to escape this death game as soon as possible, players who realized this could only endure the moral condemnation in their hearts, and finally chose to remain silent.

There is no absolute good and no absolute evil. This is the epitome of most ordinary people.

In fact, to be honest, the players' pursuit and admiration for the two girls may not be affected by this deep-seated element.

But this kind of thing is not the one who personally created this death game, which is what Kayaba Akihiko wants to see.

So for the central figure in all this, that is, Arturia Pendragon, he has been secretly paying attention to each other for a long time.

Who the hell is this guy?

Where did she suddenly appear from?

Kayaba Akihiko, who has administrator privileges, can't find the other party's information in the database no matter what.

This blond girl is like a shooting star across the sky. Although it is dazzling, it appears suddenly and inexplicably.

There is no purchase information for her, no registration information for her, or even her login information.

It's like a game ghost that suddenly appeared, although it doesn't seem to have a particularly big impact on the operation of the game for the time being.

However.........

In order to make this game look like a real world, he paid for all the tension that he deliberately created, all of which were abruptly destroyed by the girl alone.

He has seen all the changes in the mentality of the players in the past six months, and because of this, as Kayaba Akihiko deepened her investigation, he felt more and more mysteries about the girl.

In contrast, his fear of Arturia grew deeper and deeper.

And also accompanied by the increase of fear, there is also a deep curiosity about the girl that can't help but rise in his heart.

Artoria Pendragon, what is your true identity?

Kayaba Akihiko was really curious about this, he hid in the crowd and raised his head, quietly watching the other party's stern figure, the depths of his eyes were as dark as ink.

Eternal golden knight, what can you do in this game?

But no matter what, I hope you don't make me feel bored.

I am really looking forward to the day when the answer to the mystery will be revealed!

The maze is really huge. Even if the players knew the specific route to the boss room, it took nearly half an hour for the raiders to reach their destination.

In front of the gate of the palace, Heathcliff, the head of the Blood Knights, turned around and made the final mobilization to everyone.

"Everyone—" He raised his voice, so that every word he said could be clearly heard by everyone, "—previous convenience is our goal this time. We have worked hard and finally Standing in front of the gate of the boss again."

His eyes were sharp, and he scanned all the raiders present one by one, and then paused when he saw Artoria.

"...Everyone elected me to be the commander-in-chief of this battle. I am very grateful for everyone's trust in me."

He withdrew his gaze, pretended to be nonchalant and continued to speak, "Our enemy is in this room, and now we know where it wants to die, and today is the day of its death, strengthen your beliefs, let Wrath gives you greater strength."

"So hold on to your shields! Hold on to your spears! Put on your helmets! Let go of your fears! Remember: we are brave heroes!"

Accompanied by his resounding voice, the atmosphere of all the players in the clearing team present at the scene became high at the moment.

They brandished the weapons in their hands and let out high-pitched voices. It seemed that the fighting spirit in their hearts had been successfully aroused by Heathcliff.

Even the flaxen-colored long-haired girl next to Arturia couldn't help clenching her fists, her cheeks blushing with excitement.

Among these people, only Artoria's expression was as serious as ever.

She stood in the distance as motionless as a mountain, deep in her emerald green eyes was the dark shadow of the mountain, and the surging waves made it difficult for people to see the specific thoughts in her heart.

After this mobilization was over, Heathcliff turned around, stretched out his hand and slowly pushed open the palace gate under the gaze of everyone.

And in this huge palace, the boss on the first floor sat on a throne with no expression on his face.

It has a ferocious sheep-headed demon appearance, with a powerful tail trailing behind it, and scales growing on its arms.

The pair of eyes made of flames opened slightly without blinking, looking at the mice that broke into their resting place, its eyes were full of greed and evil, and at the same time, there was a violent violence that was so strong that it could not be melted away. inferior.

Such an appearance, coupled with the vigorous, rough and mysterious architectural style in the palace, looks very intimidating and very domineering.

As the players all entered the room, the torches on the wall instantly ignited/lit up the entire palace hall, and Boos' name was also revealed at this moment.

The first floor guards the BOSS——Flame demon monarch (Flame demon monarch).

The palace was brightly lit at the moment, on both sides of the wall were hideous stone sculptures of ghost faces, and at the left and right ends stood two rows of huge demon statues at least 30 meters high.

Terrifying, but exceptionally domineering.

"Roar!!"

I saw Boss let out a long roar, and the angry roar resounded in my ears like rolling thunder, shaking people's whole body.

With an unbearable expression on her face, Asuna couldn't help covering her ears with her hands, hoping to reduce the damage to her eardrums by doing so.

Then, she suddenly felt a familiar breath coming from her side, and another pair of white hands quietly attached to the back of her hands, adding another layer of barriers to her ears.

Turning her head, the girl suddenly broke into the depths of a pair of emerald green eyes.

Like a lonely boat passing through the turbulent sea of ​​time, the strings in Asuna's heart seemed to be suddenly fluctuated a little, entwined deeply in the lingering sound.

At that moment, she seemed to see the infinite tree sound and the infinite moonlight.

"Are you OK?"

The sound wave from the monster had passed, so Arturia put down her hands, and looked worriedly at the girl with a strange complexion.

"...I'm fine."

Shaking her head slightly, Asuna turned her head away unnaturally, hoping to use this movement to hide her shyness at the moment.

Enough is enough......

She sighed, admonishing herself in her heart again.

That gentle person, who is as gentle as the wind in the sky, is a girl of the same gender as you.

So Asuna, please wake up!

After the boss roared, he saw that its original black armor began to be stained with blood-red nicks, emitting a strange speckled red light.

Those nicks and red light dwelled on its body like flames, like the flame demon king who ruled the world. The terrifying coercion made all the players present panic involuntarily.

Can it really be won?

When seeing the terrifying scene in front of them, many players couldn't help asking such questions in their subconscious.

Seeing that the Balrog Lord was about to enter the battle mode, Heathcliff looked solemn, and quickly raised his long sword and shouted loudly, "Quick, everyone, get ready to fight!"

This sound can be said to be a word that awakens the dreamer.

The expressions of all the players present were frozen, and they recovered from the slight uneasiness.

Distraction on the battlefield is a big taboo. Fortunately, they reacted in time, so no major mistakes were made.

The horned demon quickly came to the middle of the palace. It swung the big red sword in its hand, and swept across it directly relying on its tall and burly figure.

Seeing this, the players hastily started to roam and switch, avoiding the blow of the boss in a very thrilling manner.

"Pendragon!"

Asuna hurriedly called Artoria's name, and after receiving the signal from the other party, she raised the rapier in her hand and ran towards the boss.

Arturia followed closely behind the girl and fell one meter away, playing the role of "flower guardian" or "guardian knight" seriously.

This was something she had discussed with Asuna before.

In order to hone the girl's fighting qualities and improve her game level, the blond king will fight Asuna every few days, starting from getting to know each other.

And every time, she will earnestly correct the other party's redundant actions and wrong judgments.

In addition, Arturia does not need experience to increase her character level, so she handed over all the final blows of each mission to Asuna to complete.

She has extremely high talent, the best teacher, ever-increasing experience, and a large number of upgrade points for being able to leapfrog and kill monsters.

Today, Asuna is no longer the girl who was helpless in the face of the wolves and could only wait to die helplessly.

'Shiny Asuna' is a shameful title, although it sounds a bit secondary, but it also shows everyone's recognition of her from the side, as well as the extraordinaryness of the girl herself.

As the weapons intersected, the roars of players and bosses continued to come.

Although the Balrog Monarch is formidable, the players have already developed a certain level of combat quality in battle after battle. At this moment, although there are slightly more people in the strategy team, everyone's cooperation is still orderly.

Asuna waved the rapier in her hand, and she walked nimbly beside the boss, and from time to time, she would see the opportunity to stab her with the sword.

And every time the attack landed on the horned demon, it would take away a clearly visible amount of HP.