Aincrad, 20th Floor, Wilderness Church Area.
As Kaguya, clad in the Knights of the Blood Oath's uniform, delivered the final, fierce Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu sword strike that pierced the special boss, causing it to dissipate into the air, a yellow transparent crystal was left on the ground.
[Revival Crystal: Can be used on a player within 10 seconds of their death to revive them.]
Kaguya glanced at the attribute, her eyes flickering uncertainly as they swept over Yusei and Shiro.
Finally, she directly tossed the crystal to Yusei, "Keep it. Take good care of Shiro. It's an extra safety measure."
Yusei fumbled a bit, caught off guard by the suddenly thrown Revival Crystal... not understanding what Kaguya was doing.
Hearing her words, he realized Kaguya was actually concerned about Shiro's safety.
While this made him happy... but...
'However, since she had already given it to me...' Yusei thought for a moment and decided to accept it.
"Thank you, Kaguya-sama. I didn't expect you to have a gentle side too."
"Don't think of people as so sinister," Kaguya retorted, rolling her eyes at Yusei.
She apologized, "Sorry... I acted on my own assumption."
Asuna gently shook her head, "No, compared to the few of us... Shiro is the one who needs that Revival Crystal more."
Shiro, listening to their conversation nearby, couldn't help but show a slight flicker in her usually calm eyes.
Yusei smiled and said, "Shiro, you should thank the Onee-chans."
Shiro nodded, took a step forward, looked up at the two girls with her large eyes, and gave a slight bow, "Thank you, big sisters."
Asuna looked at Shiro, bent down, and patted Shiro's little head, "Shiro is so young yet encountered something like this... you must have been very scared, right?"
"Not scared."
"No. Being with Nii, Shiro is not scared."
Asuna looked at Yusei, a trace of appreciation flashing in her beautiful eyes, then she turned her gentle gaze back to Shiro.
"Mhm. Your Onii-chan is very strong. I believe he can definitely protect you."
Kaguya watched all this without speaking, instead checking the emails in her mailbox.
She had obtained information from her contact, the information dealer Argo.
[The number of players currently at the 25th-floor Boss Room has reached the maximum capacity for the raid instance. Even if you come now, you won't be able to enter the Boss Raid immediately.]
Looking at this email, Kaguya couldn't help but sigh, "The reward of 'leaving SAO early' is just too tempting."
"The players raiding the boss now are all acting like madmen rushing to the boss room."
Putting away the email, she addressed Asuna and Yusei, "Let's go. We'll head to the labyrinth area on the 25th floor and wait. Once their boss raid is over, we'll proceed to the Dragon's Lake on the 26th floor."
Hearing this, Yusei's heart skipped a beat. He asked nonchalantly, "Aren't we going to find the Dragon Knight?"
Hearing this, Kaguya shook her head, her crimson eyes seemingly radiating an 'everything is under control' aura.
"Not necessary. Although the quest states the Dragon Knight is hidden among the players, it doesn't say the Dragon Knight isn't a player."
"In my opinion, the Dragon Knight is a trap. He is a player with a different quest from ours. Our main quest is to slay Kanna, while his quest is precisely to save the giant dragon Kanna."
"In other words, we don't need to waste effort fighting over items to identify the Dragon Knight..." A confident smile curled at the corner of Kaguya's lips, "The closer the giant dragon Kanna is to the Dragon Knight, the more excited she becomes. We can wait until Kanna makes a move, then suddenly have all players reveal their quests."
"Whoever has a quest different from ours, or is unwilling to reveal their quest, is the Dragon Knight!"
This series of deductions had Asuna nodding frequently, impressed by Kaguya's foresight.
"Brilliant, Kaguya!"
Yusei also smiled and clapped along, praising Kaguya's method. However, inwardly he couldn't help but sigh, 'Unfortunately, my quest was issued directly by the system, not issued by SAO itself.'
Kaguya calculated everything, but she miscalculated one thing: that this giant dragon Kanna quest wasn't arranged by Kayaba!
…
Outside the 25th-floor Boss Room.
It should have been a labyrinth area where low-level players rarely dared to come. But at this moment...
Almost the entire SAO's player base was crammed into the labyrinth area. After the initial wave of deaths, there were now roughly 8,000 players remaining… already, two thousand players had permanently left the game.
"Hey, you, stop pushing me!"
"Damn it... why are you, such a low-level guy, even here?"
"Ah! Pervert!"
A system warning sound rang out. Lightning suddenly crackled in the sky, electrocuting a lecherous-looking man until he was charred.
The people around him immediately cleared a space, many looking on with disdain, especially the female players.
This was the system's protection for female players. The moment a male player made unwanted contact with a female player... the system would prompt with the option to punish.
However, this minor incident didn't affect the players' fanaticism. They jostled and pushed, all trying to squeeze to the front, waiting for the boss raid to end so they could be the first to enter the 26th floor.
Just then, the large door on the 25th floor suddenly swung open. The room inside was pitch black, making it impossible to see what was happening.
Roar!
At that moment, a tremendous roar came from inside, followed by one scream after another.
"Ahhh!"
Several players were sent flying out from inside, turning into data fragments and dissipating in the air.
Simultaneously, the raid information for the 25th floor displayed: [Raid Failed].
The players who had been fighting and pushing instantly froze, looking on in horror at the players who had turned into data amidst the screams, and at the large characters indicating raid failure.
This was death. Complete and utter death!
The death of their companions cooled their excitement and fervor considerably.
Many pointed with trembling lips towards the dark boss room ahead.
"They... what happened to them? Why... why can't we clear this floor? With so many of us... weren't the raids going very smoothly before?"