“Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Tidal Strike.”
With the swing of his Nichirin Blade, the monsters surrounding Akimi were all shredded into pieces, turning into experience points and Col—though each monster only provided a single point of experience and one Col.
For Akimi, such a meager reward was almost insulting; it was barely worth anything.
Even defeating hundreds of them wouldn’t be as efficient as fighting a single monster in the dungeon, and it felt more like a psychological tease.
Looking at the monsters that kept respawning around him, Akimi felt a headache coming on.
While none of these monsters were particularly difficult to deal with, they respawned so quickly that just as he killed one, another appeared.
The only slightly humane aspect was that the total number of monsters always stayed at twenty.
Still, given his current condition, Akimi was confident in himself.
To put it bluntly, he felt he could fight all day—he just wasn’t sure how Asuna was doing on her side.
“Fine, I’ll just hold out for now. Hopefully, Asuna can finish quickly.”
Saying this, he swung his blade to smash a giant stone golem, then casually dodged an iron hammer smashing toward the back of his head.
Using his sword arts skill “Gauntlet Thrust,” he pierced the chest of a heavily armored dwarf swinging the hammer at him.
Technically, Akimi didn’t even need to dodge these attacks, but doing so would mean constantly using healing potions to restore HP, which he considered somewhat wasteful.
—————-
As for Asuna, the situation was slightly different from what Akimi had expected—there weren’t even any monsters, and not a single system prompt appeared.
All that lay before her was an empty platform, surrounded on all sides by a dull gray void, with nothing visible beyond.
After taking some time to carefully scan her surroundings and finding nothing unusual, Asuna pursed her lips, feeling a growing unease.
Since this was supposed to be a challenge, there should have been some objective—but here, it was completely devoid of anything.
Even the most difficult puzzle games would leave behind the tiniest clue, but here, no matter what she did, she couldn’t sense any change.
Attempting to explore in any direction only made her feel like she was treading in place, lacking any points of reference.
“Ding—”
Seeing the indestructible prompt that appeared when her sword tip struck the ground, Asuna furrowed her brows.
To be honest, the environment made her feel uncertain—her limited field of view constantly gave the impression that something was watching her from the shadows.
And whether it was psychological or not, Asuna felt a strange chill at her back no matter which direction she faced.
Shivering slightly, she rubbed her arms in an attempt to dispel the cold that had seeped into her body—but, as she suspected, friction wouldn’t generate warmth here in SAO.
Asuna quietly took a deep breath and muttered to herself, “It’s nothing… Even if there really are ghosts or something, I can definitely handle them easily.”
After saying this, she sniffled.
Initially, she had only felt that there might be ghost-like monsters nearby, but her self-assurance inadvertently convinced her that ghosts were indeed present.
This made her already pale complexion turn even paler.
“Ugh—”
Covering her face and letting out a meaningless wail, Asuna rubbed her eyes and forced herself to open her inventory, checking her potions, crystals, and other consumables.
Although she was still a bit nervous, Asuna knew this wasn’t the time to sit and wait for trouble.
She took out a torch she didn’t even remember putting in her inventory, lit it, and placed it on the ground as a point of reference.
Then, she began walking in the direction opposite the entrance.
—————–
Akimi was starting to feel a bit of regret—he’d triggered that flag too early.
The monsters’ levels were steadily rising.
While their types hadn’t changed, their stats were already slightly stronger than those of the monsters on the 40th floor.
If this continued, even Akimi felt he might start to struggle.
Moreover, according to the system’s challenge timer, there were only about five minutes left before the challenge ended.
That wouldn’t have been such a big deal—he could always try again tomorrow—but Akimi had a strange premonition: if they attempted the challenge again the next day, the monsters’ stats probably wouldn’t reset to the beginning.
His premonitions were almost always accurate… and honestly, he didn’t even need to rely on them.
Knowing Kayaba’s tendencies, it was almost certain he’d design it that way.
At this rate, Akimi reckoned that in at most three days, regardless of whether Asuna completed her task or not, he himself might start to feel the pressure—especially since they couldn’t replenish consumables here.
After fretting for a moment, Akimi suddenly had an idea.
He immediately knocked back the surrounding monsters and opened the system panel’s messaging interface.
Just as he suspected, because he and Asuna were still inside the zone, the messaging function worked normally.
This was a huge relief.
Their situation now resembled a kind of prisoner’s dilemma, and being able to exchange information helped relieve the mental pressure caused by being unable to communicate.
“Hmm, let’s check on Asuna’s situation first,” he said, beginning to send a message while also keeping a careful eye on the monsters, dodging their relatively slow attacks.
Once he confirmed that the messages were sending properly, he finally allowed himself a small smile.
Looking at the monsters around him, he muttered quietly:
“Well, it’s rare to get some good news. Makes the mood a bit brighter… Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!”
— The end of the Chapter–
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