Artoria wants to read people's hearts

"I have another suggestion, I hope you can listen to it, leader."

"...Please tell me."

Although he was a little upset, after subconsciously knocking on the table with his fingers, Heathcliff still leaned forward, pretending to be listening attentively.

"No matter how you say it, the first goal of the clearing team is to clear this game." When Artoria said this, her expression was very sincere.

It wasn't an act, but she really thought so.

"That's why I suggest that it is better not to mobilize too many people in the raiders team for this crusade against [Smiling Coffin] members."

"After all..." She sighed from the corner of her mouth, and then smiled wryly, "It is also very important to find the boss' room as soon as possible."

"That's why I suggest that the raid and the crusade be divided into two groups and carried out at the same time, so as to ensure efficiency."

This is indeed a good method. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded in agreement with Arturia's suggestion.

"Okay, then do as you said."

"Thank you for your help." The corners of Artoria's mouth curled up slightly, and then she gave a noble courtesy to the other party, "Presumably the players in the entire "SAO" game will remember the contribution you made today, Captain."

That's right, noble etiquette, not knight etiquette.

Because in social situations, she was actually unwilling to give Heathcliff the knight salute.

After exchanging pleasantries, Arturia and Asuna bid farewell.

After getting the consent of the other party, they turned and left the headquarters of the Knights of the Blood Alliance.

The evening light is golden and distant, refreshing and so warm.

On the way back, Asuna finally asked her doubts, "Why did you do this?"

"If we follow Heathcliff's method, if there are disagreements in the regiment or in various trade unions, wouldn't it be easy to leak the news of the crusade against [Laughing Coffin]?"

"Once we know that the clearing team is going to attack them, then those bastards will definitely hide."

That's right, when Asuna was at the headquarters of the Knights of the Blood, that was what she worried and wondered about.

But just when she wanted to speak up, Artoria stopped her.

"Pandaragon, you should also be able to think of this level, but you stopped me at that time. Is there any deep meaning in it?"

"Asuna is really smart." The blond girl's curled hair twitched, showing that she was in a good mood at the moment.

This sudden compliment made Asuna stunned for a moment, and after that, she blushed a little bit shyly.

"Well, that's what you think." Nodding, Artoria frowned, "I did have some ideas, that's why I chose to do that at that time."

When she said this, she blinked her eyes, and then showed a little apology on her face, "I'm really sorry, it happened suddenly at that time, and there is no way to explain it in detail, so please forgive my rude behavior at that time Bar."

"Ah, no..." murmured, the flaxen-colored long-haired girl waved her hand to indicate that she didn't care about her behavior at that time, "Compared to that, I'm more curious about what you did now What is the reason for this kind of thing, can you tell me in detail?"

"Of course." With a chuckle, Artoria put her right hand on her chest, and then made a knightly salute to the other party, "It's my honor to be able to answer Miss Asuna's confusion. "

"Really—" sighed helplessly, she cast a reproachful glance at the blond girl, with a smile in her light golden eyes, and she said something like a joke, "—my lord knight, Don’t be a fool anymore, tell me the truth as soon as possible.”

"it's actually really easy."

Artoria raised her hand and touched the top of the girl's hair, and then explained, "I just dug a hole, as for the members of [Smiling Coffin], will they jump into it...... , this matter depends on how courageous these villains are."

"...What does this mean?" She tilted her head, and the girl's face was full of confusion.

"It means..."

She withdrew her hand from stroking the top of the other's head, and then patted him on the shoulder instead.

"If no one in the strategy team leaks information, then everything will proceed according to the normal plan, but if there are players who should cooperate internally and externally to report the information..."

When talking about this, Artoria narrowed her eyes slightly, and a cold light flashed in her eyes, "Then, there is a high possibility that they will step on the trap I set up."

"I said before that I should reduce the number of crusades [Smiling Coffin], didn't I?"

After saying this, after seeing Asuna nodding in response, she continued to add, "Actually, this is a trap, and a strategy to prevent them from escaping."

"If a player tipped off the news, then the news that there are fewer people in our crusade team will definitely be transmitted along with it."

"If those lunatics are a little more courageous, there is a high possibility that they will choose to ambush us instead, and they may not be sure to set us up."

"After all, this is a very good opportunity to stand up, isn't it?"

Thinking about it in another way, if Arturia were to lead the guild, she might choose to do so.

"......If the members of their guild wiped out all the crusade teams of the raiding group, then in this game, they can do things even more unscrupulously with this record."

"...but wouldn't that be dangerous?"

Hearing this possibility, Asuna couldn't help frowning tightly, and the doubts in her heart deepened.

"Since such a dangerous situation will happen, but you choose to do so, can it be said..."

Seeming to have thought of something, she suddenly raised her head and looked at Artoria, "Pendragon, do you want to take this opportunity to... catch them all?"

"Yes, that's it."

Perhaps ordinary people would not choose such a strategy, because obviously, they did not have such powerful force as Arturia.

After all, if this kind of thing goes wrong, it is likely to lead to the end of the group.

Dare to make such a risky move, maybe Artoria is the only one in this game world.

One man becomes an army.

At the moment when there is no magic power and Noble Phantasm, although these words sound a bit exaggerated, they are enough to show how high the girl's force value is from the side.

Can't help recalling in her mind, the scene where Artoria fought with the Reaper NPC yesterday, Asuna finally nodded and agreed to the other party's plan.

If the members of [Smiling Coffin] choose to encircle and suppress the crusade team, will they surround Pendragon, or will Pendragon surround them by himself?

Regarding this question, the flaxen-haired girl chose to give up thinking.

"Well......."

Stretching out her hand to pull her forehead hair, Asuna frowned and asked

"...What if those guys don't talk about martial arts, but choose some dirty methods?"

Meeting those light golden eyes, Artoria immediately understood what she was worried about.

"Please don't worry, of course I have considered these issues."

The blond girl raised her head, and she looked at the orange-red sky in the distance, and the emerald green eyes also reflected a little reddish.

"In any case, I will make them pay the price they deserve."

Chapter 30 Smiling Coffin ([-] in [-])

At ten o'clock in the morning the next day, a meeting on the crusade against [Smiling Coffin] was held at the headquarters of the Blood Knights.

During the meeting, after deliberation, the various presidents of medium and large guilds expressed their willingness to send part of their personnel to form a crusade team.

As for solo players and small guilds, according to Artoria's suggestion, they chose to continue to follow the rest of the strategy group to find information about the boss of this layer and its location.

Two hours later, at [-]:[-] noon, that is, the crusade meeting ended at noon in the sun, and the middle and high-level leaders of various trade unions left the headquarters of the Knights of the Blood Alliance one after another, and began to prepare for the establishment of the crusade team.

So on the third day, a team of about 300 people gathered in front of Artoria.

The blond girl sat on the horse and looked down at the three hundred people with a calm expression on her face.

"Pandaragon, the ones in front of you are the crusade teams formed by our trade unions."

Wearing red and white knight armor, Heathcliff said to Artoria who was beside him on horseback, "Everyone is of high rank and has rich combat experience. A team like this It's enough to defeat the boos, let alone deal with the group of [Smiling Coffin]."

"Indeed, everyone is amazing." Nodding, Artoria agreed with what Heathcliff said.

The level of these players can also be regarded as high-level in the strategy team. Sending them here is enough to show how much each union attaches importance to this operation.

"but........."

Turning her head, she looked at the man next to her, "...I didn't expect that you would choose to participate in this operation, leader."

"Well, after all, I'm relatively free now, and participating in this event and personally punishing the villains also made my long-lost blood surge."

He said words that could not be distinguished from the truth, and then suddenly the words changed.

"Why?" Frowning, he looked at the girl and raised the corners of his mouth, "Don't you mean Pendragon, you don't welcome me to join?"

"......"

Turning her head, Artoria's green eyes were bright and deep, like a pool of soft and clear lake water, as if she could see into the deepest part of a person's heart at a glance.

The two looked at each other in silence, and after about half a minute, Heathcliff was the first to be unable to maintain the smirk on his face.

However, at this moment, the blond girl suddenly laughed.

"...how could it be?" Those eyes, which looked like a forest and also like a lake, were burning with turbulent flames, and at this moment they seemed a little unfathomable.

"Commander, you are so powerful, I am actually relieved to have you participate in this operation."

"Let's not talk about that." Looking up at the sky, she turned her head and said to him, "It's getting late, and we should set off."

"........Um."

Heathcliff didn't say much this time, he just nodded, then silently rode his horse and took two steps to the side.

Arturia was indifferent to his move, as if she hadn't noticed.

Raising her head, she raised her voice and called the name of the flaxen-colored long-haired girl who was preparing for departure not far away.

"Asuna!" Seeing the girl looking back at the sound, she smiled slightly, and then said loudly, "The time is up, we are leaving!"

After seeing the girl make an OK gesture, she took a deep breath, and then faced the 300 people who had already lined up.

"Everyone!" She held up her right hand with a dignified expression. After attracting everyone's attention, she swung her right hand down suddenly, "The whole army is going!"

Going forward all the way, their goal is the Forgotten Forest on the No.40 floor.

According to the plan, Arturia, Asuna, and Heathcliff will each lead 100 people, divert them there and head to east, west, and north, these three different directions.

According to the information obtained, the three directions surrounding the Forgotten Forest are obviously the high-incidence areas of [Smiling Coffin].

Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that their stronghold may be hidden in one of these three locations.

The crusade team was originally assembled on the No.40 floor, so after about an hour, they had already arrived at the edge of the Forgotten Forest.

Although the name Forest of Forgotten sounds a little ominous, it is actually not a dangerous place.

The distribution of monsters is also pretty even, no different than anywhere else.

If you really want to name a specific feature, maybe there are so many trees that the sunlight is not enough, so the atmosphere looks a bit dark.

In such a forest area, riding a horse is not a very good choice, so the three of Artoria got off their horses and walked into the forest with the large army.

Moving forward in the forest is not a very efficient thing, not to mention there are wild monsters who don't know when they will come out to block the way.

So when they arrived at the location where they were going to be diverted, it was time for lunch.

The midday sun reveals the heat, coupled with the unique sultriness of the forest climate, the players who have traveled for so long are a bit overwhelmed.

Arturia, who is experienced in leading troops, naturally knows the truth that haste makes waste.

So she put forward the decision to rest in place and start separately after lunch.

The players who learned that they could take a rest couldn't help cheering. They all looked for the shade of the tree, and after running to the shade, they all sat down on the ground in a disfigured manner.

"Everyone, dinner is served!"

At this time, a cadre of the Knights of the Blood Alliance in the crowd stood up with a smile. It was a short black-haired man, and he was also the temporary head of the logistics department who was in charge of eating for everyone.

As the initiator of this operation, the Knights of the Blood Alliance have done quite satisfactory in some subtle aspects, such as the management of rice.

Of course, this black-haired player does not specialize in cooking, he is actually a combatant.

After all, no matter how you say it, it is impossible to let a living player who can only cook go to the battlefield. If something happens after participating in their crusade, who should be responsible for it?

So even though he is the head of the logistics department, he is only responsible for distributing the prepared meals today.

The food was also prepared early this morning, but it was too unrealistic for about 300 people to eat in one person's storage.

However, it is unrealistic for one person to store it, so it would be better if more people share it together.

In order not to take up space, each member of the Knights of the Blood Alliance has a certain amount of food in their storage slots, just waiting to be taken out at this moment.

Following the man's greeting, the members of the Knights of the Blood Alliance all smiled and took out the food from their storage boxes, and distributed it to other guild members one by one.