Chapter 24: The Maneuver of Love and the Horse-Faced Hero part-3
"My leg!" Marcus screamed as he hit the turf, rolling painfully.
The Titan, annoyed, raised a foot to stomp on the little insect on the ground.
"Marcus!" Armin yelled.
(Oh for the love of... now we have to save the villain?) Ethan groaned. (Fine. If he dies, it complicates things. Jean, save the idiot. But make sure Mikasa sees you doing it.)
Jean sighed. "Can't believe I am doing this."
He adjusted his trajectory. "Mikasa! Finish the Titan! I have got Marcus!"
Mikasa nodded. With the Titan distracted and stationary, she was a blur of lethal efficiency. She spun behind the neck, blades flashing.
SLICE.
A massive chunk of flesh flew into the air. The Titan collapsed, steam rising from its corpse.
Meanwhile, Jean swooped down. Just as the Titan's body began to fall (potentially crushing Marcus), Jean fired a hook into Marcus's belt.
"Gotcha!"
Jean swung past, dragging the screaming "Titan Lord" out from under the falling monster. They tumbled onto the grass safely away from the impact zone.
THUD.
The earth shook as the Titan hit the ground.
Jean stood up, dusting off his uniform. He looked down at Marcus, who was clutching a broken ankle and whimpering.
"You ignored a direct order," Jean said, his voice cold. "You broke formation. You endangered the squad. And you nearly got yourself squashed."
Marcus glared up at him, his "Heroic Aura" completely shattered. "I... I had it! You got in my way!"
Mikasa landed beside them. She sheathed her blades. She looked at the steaming Titan carcass, then at Marcus, and finally at Jean.
She walked past Marcus without a word.
She stopped in front of Jean.
"You stopped me," Mikasa said.
Jean flinched, expecting her to be angry that he delayed her saving Eren. "I... yeah. If you had gone in, its arm would have hit you. I needed to distract it first."
Mikasa stared at him. For a moment, the silence was terrifying.
Then, she reached out and adjusted his collar, which had been ruffled in the fight.
"You were right," she said softly. "I was reckless. You commanded the squad well, Jean. You saved everyone."
Jean felt his face heat up. His brain short-circuited. "I... uh... well. Yeah. That is what... leaders do."
(Breathe, Jean. Do not faint. Do not make a weird horse noise. Just nod.)
Jean nodded stiffly.
Eren rode up, looking confused. "What happened? Did I miss something? I was just riding and then there was a thud."
(See?) Ethan pointed out. (The blockhead didn't even realize he was in danger. You saved him, you saved Marcus, and you impressed Mikasa. That is a hat trick.)
Marcus was loaded onto a stretcher by the medical team. As he was carried away, he muttered, "This world is broken... the plot is wrong..."
Jean watched him go. "Weird guy."
"Yes," Mikasa agreed, standing unusually close to Jean. "Very weird. I am glad we have someone reliable leading us."
[Incident Report: World 8][Target: Jean Kirstein & Mikasa Ackerman.][Status: Respect Earned. Potential Romance: 35 percent (Up from 10 percent).][Villain Status: Broken ankle, bruised ego, reputation ruined.][Reward: 1000 System Points.]
(Slow and steady wins the race, Jean,) Ethan thought. (She may not love you yet, but she sees you now. Not as a rival to Eren, but as his superior. And that is a victory.)
"Thanks, voice," Jean thought, a small, genuine smile playing on his lips. "Maybe I am not just a side character."
(You never were, buddy. You never were.)
[System Alert: Priority Transfer.][World Designation: World 9 - The Virtual World (Sword Art Online Universe).][Setting: Aincrad (Adult Server - 18+ Players Only).][Host: Kazuto Kirigaya (Kirito).][Villain Identity: "Glitch" (Hacker/Transmigrator).][Villain Objective: To Player-Kill (PK) Kirito during a Boss Raid and force Asuna into a "protection contract" by threatening to reveal her real-world identity.]
Ethan sighed. (Video games. I hate video games. The physics are always floaty. And Kirito? The Black Swordsman? Does he really need help?)
[Correction: This version of Kirito is suffering from severe carpal tunnel syndrome and lag. He needs a System Assist.]
(Lag? The hero is lagging? Okay, that is actually funny. Upload me. Time to fix some bugs.)
[Initiating Transfer...]
............
World 9: The Virtual World (Sword Art Online Universe)
"Link Start!"
The sensation was digital. Cold, precise streams of data flowing into consciousness.
Ethan opened his eyes. He was staring at a UI menu.
[HP: 4500/12500][Ping: 999ms]
(Whoa! Look at that ping!) Ethan shouted in the host's mind. (We are basically time traveling into the past with that latency! Kirito, how are you even walking?)
Kirito was standing in the middle of a dungeon floor—Floor 74. He was dressed in his signature black coat, but he was flickering in and out of existence, glitching slightly.
"I... can't... move..." Kirito's thought voice was choppy. "The... server... is... overloaded."
(It is not the server. It is the Villain. "Glitch". He is DDOSing your connection specifically. He is standing right over there.)
Ethan scanned the room. It was the boss room antechamber. A raid party was gathering. Asuna was there, wearing her Knights of the Blood Oath uniform, looking worriedly at Kirito.
Standing near the back was a player with a cloak that seemed to be made of shifting pixels. His name tag read [Null_Set].
[Villain Identity: Null_Set (Glitch).][Ability: Packet Loss Manipulation. Can cause targeted lag spikes and disconnects.][Plan: To freeze Kirito during the boss fight so the boss kills him. Permadeath is active.]
(That is dirty. Lag-killing is the coward's way out. Alright, Kirito. I am the Anti-Netorare System, but for today, I am your VPN. Let us reroute your connection through the Multiverse Mainframe.)
[System Action: Rerouting Connection... Ping: 15ms.]
Kirito gasped. The world snapped into sharp, fluid focus. He flexed his hand. "Whoa. That is smooth."
(You are welcome. Now, Asuna is walking over. She looks concerned. Don't tell her you were lagging. Tell her you were... meditating.)
.....
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