"So... so strong. This is a sword master!"
Kaguya stared blankly at the red figure darting among the giant bears. Each red flash of a thrust surely took out a chunk of a boss's health bar.
"I can't fall behind either."
Seizing the time bought by the red figure, Kaguya quickly drank a health potion and joined the fight.
The roars of the giant bears, the clashing of blades… a perilous battle unfolded in the forest.
Finally, after about twenty minutes, when the last giant bear fell, Kaguya slumped to the ground, breathing a sigh of relief.
The incredibly realistic SAO made her feel truly exhausted, sweat beads forming on her forehead as if they were real.
The figure under the red cloak was the same, panting heavily.
Beneath the cloak, the rapid, heaving breaths caused a noticeably prominent chest to rise and fall.
Seeing this, Kaguya was slightly taken aback.
'This is... a girl?'
But then she felt a bit more pleased. If it were a boy who saved her, she wouldn't know how to start a conversation.
But if it was a girl, that was different.
She immediately stood up, walked over to the red-cloaked figure, and sincerely expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you. Thanks to your help, I was truly in danger."
The red-cloaked figure fell silent for a moment upon hearing Kaguya's words, then a faint female voice came from under the cloak.
"You're welcome. Without you, I couldn't have defeated them either."
A smile appeared on Kaguya's usually cold face, and she gently shook her head.
"No, I'm quite aware of my own limits. I'm a computer idiot through and through. If I'm not good at something, I'm just not good at it."
"Not good at it? But you're already level 21... I'm only level 15..." A puzzled voice came from under the cloak.
Kaguya was startled, "Eh? How do you know my level?"
A pair of slender, pale white hands emerged from under the red cloak, pointing towards the settlement screen that hadn't closed yet after finishing the field boss.
It showed how much experience was needed from level 21 to 22, and how much experience had been gained from those bear monsters.
The smile froze on Kaguya's face. She recalled a certain someone who had 'mocked' her for holding the team back. She had to admit that her rapid leveling was entirely thanks to Kazami Yusei.
But she played it off casually.
"Just a coincidence. Never mind that. What's your name?"
The figure under the cloak hesitated slightly, perhaps because Kaguya was also a beautiful girl, and then spoke.
"Asuna."
"My name is Kaguya. Would you like to grind together? Actually, there are many things I'd like to ask you for advice on."
Kaguya showed a smile. For someone with pride as high as hers, asking others for advice was normally very difficult.
But now, her biggest goal was Yusei. To defeat him, even if just in the game, she was willing to set aside her pride and seek guidance. It showed just how much her defeat in the last Kendo Tournament had affected her.
Of course, the fact that Asuna had saved her life was also a factor. Perhaps in her view, asking her savior, who was also a beautiful girl, for advice was as ordinary as asking a close friend which movie they liked?
In Asuna's daze, she found herself already partied with Kaguya without quite realizing how it happened.
And just like that, somewhat strangely, a two-person party was formed.
...
Yusei was unaware of everything that had happened to Kaguya after she left him. At that moment, he and Shiro were fiercely battling the Frost Dragon before them.
"Shiro, switch! Final blow!"
"Okay, Nii!"
The siblings' figures crisscrossed through the blizzard, their paths intersecting in the air to form a chilling sword gleam that struck the heavily wounded Frost Dragon.
Boom!
The Frost Dragon could hold on no longer. It let out a mournful cry towards the sky, its massive body collapsing onto the mountaintop. The dragon's corpse, dozens of meters long, dissolved into data fragments and vanished.
After the Frost Dragon disappeared, a pile of items dropped in its place.
[Frost Dragon's Heart (S), Frost Dragon Scales (S), Frost Dragon Fang (S), Frost Dragon Claw (S), Frost Dragon Meat (S)]
The items shimmered with a golden light while emanating a cold aura… clearly valuable treasures.