“Wait, you must do it well.
\"Although I am the current boss of the Blood Oath Knights, Asuna is always the one who boosts the morale of the members and formulates strategies.\" There are probably more people supporting Asuna than me.
\"Well, it's okay. Asuna, are you okay now?\"
As if responding to my voice, Asuna turned around and nodded slowly.
"Jupiter is fine now. I'm sorry for making everyone worried."
"It doesn't matter. Just knowing that Jupiter is safe gives us peace of mind. If it turns out good, that's good."
Then, Alice said to Asuna.
\"Asuna, let me ask you about Ubibo. You are Ubibo's mother.\"
Asuna turned to face Alice.
\"I feel that through this incident, I have confirmed it again. Before we leave this castle, no, even after we leave this castle, I will be the mother of this child.\"
"Yes, that child is already your son."
When Alice said this, her face looked a little lonely.
Originally, Jupiter was a program created by Alice, like her child. Before Jupiter lost his memory, he must have regarded Alice as his mother, and Alice must have loved such Jupiter.
However, Jupiter's mother is now Asuna, and Alice is a complete stranger. By now she was a mother, but she must have felt lonely because she was no longer a mother.
\"Actually, I would be very sad if Yui becomes like this.\"
\"So Asuna, is that enough? You can't stay on the court forever, right?\"
Lilan, who had remained silent, finally spoke, and Asuna nodded.
"Yeah. Let's go home now."
After Asuna finished speaking, she stood up and a window suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. The light blue rectangular window showed that a message had arrived, and the sender was Godfrey, one of the top leaders of the Blood Oath Knights.
"Coming from Godfrey. What a great time."
Just when everyone was confused, I opened the message and checked the content.
"To the leaders
Diabel, the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance, came to the headquarters. It seems that the boss battle scheduled for tomorrow has been suddenly cancelled. I am still at the headquarters of the Blood Oath Knights, so if you have nothing important to do, I hope you can return to the headquarters of the Blood Oath Knights.
After reading this message, I tilted my head involuntarily.
Indeed, what Diabell said today was to hold a strategy meeting for tomorrow's boss battle, but the boss battle itself suddenly disappeared. What does this mean? Could it be that another guild defeated the boss?
"What's this?
Filia's eyes widened when she heard my words.
"No more boss fights? What do you mean?"
"Saparana. It says return to headquarters temporarily."
"I turn my attention back to the deputy commander."
\"Asuna, I'm sorry to hear that you're busy with Jupiter, but Godfrey contacted me.
Asuna hugged Jupiter with a surprised look on her face.
"Godfrey? What happened?"
\"It seems that Dilbert is here.
One of the reasons for Jupiter's actions was that Asuna looked away from him. Jupiter might do something like this again if Asuna took her eyes off him again.
\"It seems that I am the only one who has been called, so let Asuna and Jupiter go home together.\"
Just when I was about to say that, Shino spoke.
\"Asuna, you should go home with Jupiter. Jupiter must be lonely without you, so you should stay with him.\"
"I agree with that. I'll listen too, so I want you to be with Jupiter.
Yuuki shouted to Asuna, who looked alternately at Shino and Lilan.
\"Jupiter, you look lonely. It would be better if Asuna was by your side.\"
Asuna stared at Yuuki and whispered his name. Finally, she turned to face us and lowered her head slightly.
"Okay. All three of you please."
We nodded and turned to Filia, Klein and Leafa.
"I'm sorry for you three, but we're going back to the Bloodsworn Knights headquarters. We're disbanding here."
Immediately afterwards, Alice turned her face to the three people.
"You guys, I'm going to give you a reward. Can you please come to the first floor? I want you to practice cooking with the children."
Klein was surprised.
\"Oops. Practice cooking?! I haven't done anything like this in years. Even if Teacher Alice asks me, I don't know if I can do it\"
Alice grinned.
"The church is nice, Mr. Klein. All the children are taught by women, and most of them are beautiful women like me."
Immediately afterwards, Klein's expression became sharp.
"Let me do it"
Leafa smiled bitterly and continued.
“I’m not good at cooking in this world, can I hang out with the kids?”
"Wow, me too. I don't cook at all."
After Filia finished speaking to Leafa, Alice nodded.
"Because it's better if you can cook. Okay, now everyone's whereabouts have been determined. Okay, this time the storm is over, let's disband this member here."
After listening to Alice's words, Shino, Lilan and I said hello to everyone, returned the same way, entered the city, passed through the bustling crowds and vendors, and arrived at the portal.
I activated the portal and I was surprised. ——Among the options, there is a 77-story city, which should not be open yet.
This means the boss was defeated and activated, but I don't recall doing anything similar, and I didn't receive any information that the cleanup team had gotten this far.
"What do you mean, it's already the seventy-seventh floor."
\"It's strange. I heard that in today's guide, Mr. Diabell and the others broke through the maze and went to the boss room, but they didn't hear that the boss battle had already begun.\"
"What's going on? This is impossible."
\"That Diabel is now at the headquarters of the Bloodsworn Knights. I'm tired of waiting. I'm leaving before going home.
I nodded listening to Lilan's "voice" and temporarily chose the 55th floor where the headquarters of the Bloody Knights were located, and the three of us flew together.
When the teleportation light faded, what unfolded in front of us was a city of gray steel towers, but like other cities, it was bustling with people, and we no longer felt the usual cold atmosphere, but warm rice fields.
Starting from the appointment ceremony three days ago, I took Sinon to the headquarters of the Scarlet Knights. Perhaps because the city was getting warmer, my pace became a little brisk. Someone is waiting at the entrance.
Although Godfrey had brown hair and a beard, we are able to confirm his appearance, and his generosity was well received by the knights. Godfrey waved and shouted as soon as he saw us.
"Commander, Commander's wife!"
As the boss of the Bloodsworn Knights, I inherited the name of leader Heathcliff, and my wife Shino is known as the leader's wife, although only in the game.
Well, only a few members like Godfrey call him that, the other members here call him Mr. Shino.
"Godfrey, is the leader of the Holy Dragon Alliance really here?"
Godfrey nodded and ran over.
"Yes, I'm waiting for you in the conference room now, but you seem to have experienced something incredible and your face is pale."
\"Isn't it? I just broke up with Diabel. What did you learn during that time?\"
"I don't quite understand either. Anyway, Commander, just listen to me."
We temporarily nodded to Godfrey, entered the headquarters, greeted the passing Blood Oath Knights, and finally arrived at the door of the conference room.
When he opened the door and walked in, he saw Dilbert whom he had heard about. However, this outfit is different from what I just said, as if I had just challenged the dungeon, and the equipment has solidified.
\"What's the matter, Diabel?\"
When I called him, Diabel moved his mouth quietly.
\"Kirito, Lilan, and Shino-san. Something terrible happened.\"
"In the end what happened?"
"Did you see the portal?"
"Ah, the seventy-seventh floor has been opened. When did you defeat the boss?"
Hearing my words, Diabel shook his head.
"No, actually, no one has defeated the boss yet. Our Holy Dragon Alliance, Blood Oath Knights, and all other small guilds have not challenged the boss yet."
We can't help but watch the words that come out of Diabel's mouth.
The release of the 77th floor means that the boss on the 76th floor has been defeated and the road has been opened. But why has no one beaten the boss?
\"The boss has not been defeated. Can you go to the 77th floor? This should be impossible.
"Not possible. But possible."
"In other words, what happened after you returned to the Holy Dragon Alliance headquarters?"
Diabel turned to face me and began to explain.
When Diabel returned, the members of the Holy Dragon Alliance seemed anxious. When I asked him about it, it seemed that those who went to explore the boss discovered that the boss room had been released and the stairs to the next level were open.
The scout team members were confused, but they prepared the transfer crystal and searched every corner of the boss room, but could not find the boss. It seemed that it was activated when I arrived and tried to use the portal.
It seems that the members of the reconnaissance team used the portal to fly to the headquarters without knowing the situation at all, and then returned to Diabell to report.
"How is this going?"
Diabel crossed his arms and made an embarrassed expression.
"Even I doubted whether it was true, so I took everyone with me. After that, there was nothing in the boss room, and the path to the next floor was really clear."
"I can't believe something like this happens, but if I defeat the boss, I should be able to get some information. However, the informant is as quiet as ever."
After the boss battle, the informant will almost certainly make a newspaper and appear in every corner of the city. Although they were scattered all over Aincrad, they didn't encounter any informants this far, so there was no commotion. No, there's something here that might cause a ruckus.
"What's going on? The boss suddenly disappeared?"
It was then that I felt Alice's words echo in my head.
Yes, due to a glitch in the base system, Aincrad's current situation is quite unstable and anything can happen.
Even if the boss disappears, it's not impossible to get to the next level without fighting the boss.
\"Kirito, do you have any ideas?\"
"Oh, I just thought about it. Or rather, this is a pretty dangerous situation."
\"Kirito, what did you think of?\"
Based on Alice's words, I told Shino and Diabell my thoughts. At the end of the story, Diabell's face showed an expression of extreme surprise.
“The system that is arguably the foundation of this world is going crazy.”
\"Yes. This is what I heard from the former Argus staff, and it seems to be true. If something happens in the future, it will not be surprising. So the boss battle disappeared and all kinds of things became Garbled. Even if you're sick."
\"Shino looked uneasy.\"
"In other words, this incident is likely to be caused by this."
"That's true, but I'm glad that the other person is the boss. If this kind of disappearance happens to a player, it's no pun intended."
Diaber gently held his head.
“But if there’s something wrong with the foundations of this world, it’s not surprising that something like this is happening to us.
At this time, Lilan jumped off my shoulder and landed on the table between us and Diaber. Lilane turned to Diabel.
\"Don't think about these things anymore, Diabelu. If anything is possible, you should consider beating the game and escaping from this world before something bad happens. I know you're worried, but if you If you are really worried about your comrades, then work with them to come up with countermeasures and escape from this world as soon as possible.
Diabel was startled and stared at Lilane.
Instead of worrying about what will happen here, we move forward, reach the 100th floor before something happens, escape this world, and most importantly, we return to reality. I can do things.
Diabell finally had a bright smile on his face, whether he felt this or felt that Lilan had pushed him away.
"As Lilan said, I am the boss of the Holy Dragon Guild. If I, the boss, are anxious, then everyone will be anxious too."
\"Yes, Diabell. Although some things are not clear, the door to the next floor has been opened without fighting the boss. Starting from tomorrow, it will be the 77th floor, then the 78th floor, 79th floor, and 80th floor. Layer.\"Aincrad, the capture has also reached its climax.
Shino also followed my words and said.
"The current boss of the Blood Oath Knights is the strongest dual-wielding swordsman. He is accompanied by a powerful dragon. His wife is an archer. The deputy leader is a gentle but strong mother. She is also very strong. With all those elements, I figured I wouldn’t lose much.”
Diabell looked at me, Shino, and Lilan alternately, and nodded.
"Yes, it is definitely more meaningful for everyone to work together and think about moving forward than to be depressed here. Thank you three, you really put a lot of pressure on everyone."
\"So are we. Even I have been able to reach this point, only with the help of Lilan, Shino, Diabell and others.\"
"Yes! Well, now that I have decided, I can't do this anymore. Let's go back to the Holy Dragon Alliance headquarters and start tomorrow's strategy meeting!"
Diabell stood up suddenly, thanked us again, and then hurriedly left the Blood Knights headquarters. It's like he's flying with a booster on his back.
"Even so, a very strange thing happened. The boss disappeared. Did the boss really disappear?"
After hearing Shino's words, I put my hand on my chin, lowered my head, and assumed what Shino often calls a "thinking posture."
I thought the reason why the boss disappeared was due to the big system failure that Alice said, but maybe it was a very small guild without intelligence that secretly challenged the boss room, fought the boss, and subdued it. Left without activating the next town.
A team we didn't know about, with strength comparable to the captive team, subdued the boss and then disappeared. Maybe.
But if there is such a person, he will definitely become the prey of information brokers. He must have been intercepted by an informant who spread the news. I've never heard of such a warband, though, so the line is thin.
"I want to know what happened that caused the boss to disappear." This is a topic that will stay in my mind for a while, so I organized my thoughts and returned to the posture.
"I don't know the reason. If I could really worship the boss when it disappears, I would know the answer, but now I can't catch anything. A fighting group that we don't know about has appeared, hunting only the boss and" Yes. Ran. Or did the boss really disappear due to a malfunction in the base number system? I don't know either. "
"Lelan turned to face us."
\"Well, since a dangerous boss battle can be avoided, it's better to think positively for the time being. However, if this kind of thing continues in the future, then it seems that some kind of action is necessary.
"ah.
After saying that, Shino suddenly made an expression as if she realized something and opened the message window. After taking a closer look, I found that a message had reached me silently, so I opened the message window in the same way.
\"In other words, this message seems to be aimed at Sinon and I.\" Sinon shouted to me who was operating the message window.
\"Hehe, he came to Kirito's place too. In other words, this was sent by Yui.\"
\"I think Yui is practicing cooking at Alice-san's house right now.
Currently, when sending a message, the sender can decide whether to send it silently to the other party. There was an icon indicating that a message had arrived, but there was no sound, so I knew Yui was thinking of us when she sent the message.
So far, Leafa, Klein, and Filia have all been to Alice's church, and Strea has been there even more. They are all training and practicing cooking with the kids.
The actual training probably started when Sasha and Alice came in, so the cooking should have been completed by now??
"I wonder if something happened"
\"Since Miss Sasha and Miss Alice are both here, I think there should be no problem.\"
"Maybe something went wrong." - Feeling a little uneasy, I operated the window and read the content of the message.
"To Mom and Dad
"The meal on the first floor is over." Mr. Stray joined us, and the atmosphere was very lively.
"Everyone cooks the food together, so it's delicious." After that, come over and eat. \"
Yui's message was very peaceful. Not that there was anything special, just a report that the cooking exercise had ended successfully and the food was ready.
Perhaps because they did not expect such a calm content, Sinon and Lilan, who had been nervous, also showed weakened expressions.
"What's wrong? There seems to be no problem."
"Good for you. Everyone seems safe."
\"It was lucky, but the timing was terrible. I thought something must have happened on the first floor."
"Haha, yes, then mom, let's go see what my daughter's cooking is like."
Shino smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, dad, let's do it."
With that said, we left the conference room, told Godfrey who was waiting outside what had just happened, and told him that we would conquer the 77th floor and return to the first floor starting tomorrow.
The interior of the town on the first floor is almost the same as before. It is full of vendors and people entering the town, and it is very lively.
The aroma did not change, and the sound of delicious food continued to echo throughout the city, which suddenly aroused my hunger.
As I walked past it, I remembered Alice's words.
“Think about it, does everyone make beef stroganoff?”
Lilan tilted her head, as if she had lost her mind.
\"Beef Ganondorf? What is that?
\"That's not SAo, that's RPG Demon King. That's beef stroganoff.\"
"Beef Stroganov is a home-cooked Russian dish. It's a dish that doesn't require beef, so it's pretty easy to make."
I couldn't help being surprised and turned to Shino. There is a word called beef, but it can be made without beef, that is, beef. What does it mean?
"Uh, don't you want some beef?"
"Yes, the correct pronunciation is beef Stroganoff. This is pronounced beef in English, but beef does not mean beef, but means flow. In other words, beef Stroganoff means Stroganoff style. That's why you You don’t always have to use beef. However, Alice-sensei seems to have used S-grade beef to improve the taste.”
"What a vast amount of knowledge." Perhaps it was because Shino had read all kinds of books, so she seemed to know much more than I did. I searched for various information on the Internet and memorized it.
"is that so..."
"Yeah, that's right. Can you make dinner tomorrow or so?"
"please"
\"I'm looking forward to it too\"
Shino chuckled softly.
\"I understand. But today let's eat what Yui and the others made.\"
\"Ah, by the way. So what did Yui and the others do?\"
While chatting about these trivial matters and wandering around the town, I came to the church. Although it was far away from the door, I could already hear the noisy children.
If you listen carefully, you can hear the voices of Yui, Alice, Klein, Filia, and Leafa.
I thought it was quite lively, but when I walked into the church, it was dinner time and many children were making noise, which is a common sight.
On the table in front of the children were many plates, all containing the same dishes. What exactly is this?
At this time, two figures appeared in front of us, as if to separate the children. The ones who sent the message asking us to come here were Yui and Straya, who had just lost consciousness.
\"Yui, Strea\"
\"Somehow, it seems to be noisier than usual\"
Yui answered my call.
"Father, mother, Mr. Lilan. I have been waiting for you."
"What's all the fuss about? Everyone eats the same thing."
Straya looked around and smiled.
"We just finished a cooking exercise. We're comparing which group tastes best."
The noise was louder than usual, but when we heard it was because the kids were comparing themselves to each other after cooking, we strangely believed it. Everyone is stubbornly competing for what they cook to be the most delicious.
\"Phew. In other words, was it also made by Yui and Straya?\"
"that's right"
After Yui answered, the children's voices were mixed with the voices of adults.
\"Ah, hello Kirito! And Shino-san!\"
"It's Klein's voice." When I turned around, I saw a man and a woman standing out among the noisy children. Not only Klein, but also Filia and Leafa are waving at us.
"Klein, and Filia and Leafa."
When I crawled through the children, I found a large iron pot on the table where three people were sitting, with steam coming out and an alluring aroma.
If you look closely, you can see that there are children's potted plants on every table, and the whole church is enveloped in a scent.
"Lifa called out to us when we arrived."
\"Kirito-kun, Shino-san, Lilan, welcome. Shalaganov beef is ready.\"
"Really? Did you do it?"
Philia nodded.
\"Yes. I tried it while learning from Miss Alice and Miss Sasha.
Hearing this, I felt a little disappointed that Asuna was not here. Asuna has the highest level of cooking skill that neither Alice nor Sasha has, so she can make anything delicious.
As for me, who didn't eat well today, I really want to eat Asuna's cooking now. The children will definitely be very happy. But in that case, Asuna's cooking skills would undoubtedly come first, and the children's comparison would be in vain.
"I see, Klein, did you do this too?"
Klein covered his hands with his hands and nodded:
\"Of course! It's like I made it. Teacher Alice's guidance is more perfect than anyone I've ever seen.\"
Leafa half-opened her eyes.
\"Yes, Mr. Klein, what Yui does is cut the materials into a mess, right? We'll cut them later.\"
\"Li, Leafa-chan, it's over\"
When I laughed at Klein's testimony that it was still a lie, Lelan sniffed the scent repeatedly and made a "sound" that sounded relieved.
\"But it seems you did a good job. A smell of fragrance came to my nose, and I felt my stomach growling.
"Ah, this must be true."
In fact, after a fierce battle, my stomach had reached its limit and I had a feeling that I wanted to grab something immediately. Perhaps guessing what I meant, Yui shouted to me.
"Dad, you are hungry. There is a lot of food here. Please eat more and judge at the same time."
\"I don't mind. Yui, Strea, and Leafa will all be happy.\"
As I said that, I picked up a plate next to me, walked over to Yui and the others first, and put the food on the table.
Aincrad 80th Floor August 2
After clearing the 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th and 81st floors, we reached the 82nd floor. However, it only took 4 days. In just 4 days, we passed the 5th floor and reached the 82nd floor.
Yuiichi’s reason is that the boss battle was omitted.
Assuming there was going to be a tough boss fight, we leveled up, strategized, prepared, and headed to the boss room. However, while we were waiting to make up our minds and come to the boss room, we saw a development that shocked all the players.
Lisbeth and I formed a raid on the 78th floor, Filia on the 79th floor, Sinon on the 80th and 81st floors, and Asuna on the 82nd floor. I was in a very large room with no boss. There was silence.
As was the case with muukuro-Kama-motashi, I looked around for the boss, thinking it might be hidden in the upper part of the room, and even when I used Lilan's power to find enemies, I couldn't find the boss..
What's more, although she was in the boss's room at the time, Lilan had returned to her original appearance, so it was immediately obvious that the boss did not exist from the beginning.
