บท 185: Moonlit Black Cat
While Noah and Asuna helped Yuuki Levelling, Kirito joined a guild named Moonlit Black Cat, a small guild consisting of several players. Kirito met them by chance and saved them, seeing that Kirito was a solo player and had not joined the Guild, Keita, the leader of Moonlit Black Cat immediately invited Kirito to join.
At first Kirito was hesitant, but because of the atmosphere in the warm Moonlit Black Cat, Kirito finally decided to join them but Kirito hid the actual level so as not to make Keita and others feel uncomfortable.
Kirito then brought them leveling up on various floors, because of the existence of Kirito, the leveling up and farming guild process was easily and smoothly, in just a few days they went up several levels and got many items. This makes the members of Moonlit Black Cat too confident and arrogant thinking that they have become stronger and can be rampant on the medium floor.
Seeing that they were too confident, Kirito did not say anything, because he was sure that with his strength, he visa protected them.
After farming for several days and getting a lot of money and items, Keita decided to buy a house for her guild and start enjoying their lives in a safe area by opening a business related to life skills.
Because of that decision, members of Moonlit Black Cat decided to level up up for the last time. They decided to explore the labyrinth area that they hadn't entered before.
....
June 12, 2023, Floor 27 Labirin Area.
"I told you there is no problem, right?" Sasamaru said, one of the members of Guild Moonlit Black Cat with confidence and arrogant.
They are currently walking along the hallway in the 27th floor labyrinth area
They continued to talk about various things before they arrived in front of a wall which turned out to be a hidden door that had never been found that made Kirito surprised. He did not expect they would be as fortunate to find a hidden door.
The door opened, showing a treasure box in it.
"Treasure box !!!" Exclaimed Sasamaru when he saw the treasure box. The other Tetsuo Fan was also surprised and immediately their faces turned into excitement.
Kirito is behind the team with Sachi, the only female player at the guild, Sachi is a player who chose the Renard race so he acts as a healer at the Guiled, although sometimes it also acts as a tank.
"Wait!!"
As if remembering something, Kirito tried to stop Sasamaru and others who ran toward the treasure box, but they did not seem to listen when they ran towards the treasure box with a happy face.
Without hesitation, Ducker, the Dark Elf player who plays Thief opened the box.
The treasure box was open and showed an empty inside, at the same time the alarm sound echoed in the room. The door they passed previously closed completely before golem and elemental stalakmitter stormed in.
"Trap?" Drucker said before removing teleportation crystals, but no matter how many times he used it, the crystal still did not respond.
"We can't use the crystals!" Sachi said nervously while looking at the crystal in his hand.
Without waiting for them to think, golem and elemental stalakmit that immediately attacked.
..Swosh ..
Kirito delayed diagonally in sequence and killed elemental stalakmit. Ducker accidentally fell due to nervousness and was immediately attacked by a few golem, due to a very large level difference, only in a few attacks, Ducker's cellphone immediately turned red before it was empty and turned into a data piece.
"Ducker !!"
They shouted in sadness seeing the death of their friend, Kirito immediately attacked the monsters with despair. He felt guilty for Ducker's death, however he could not be separated from the responsibility for reasons why this monster was strong because of him. The trap in the labyrinth has a mechanism where the attacking monsters will have an average level of all the players who are in the area, because the existence of Kirito who is a high-level player who hides his level so that the monster has a level that exceeds the level of the members of the guild moonlit Blac Cat with a large difference.
"Sachi, prepare a healing spell, Tetsuo, Sasamaru back and gather behind me, protect Sachi!" Kirito ordered while slashing golem into pieces.
"Inferno!"
Kirito stuck his sword into the floor and the bursts of fire tornado around them prevented the from Monster attack, but Kirito knew that this was only a temporary action, when his MP was used up then they would be surrounded by dozens of Monster.
"Kirito ..." Sachi said in a fearful tone.
"Calm down Sachi, I will definitely protect you," Kirito answered firmly while holding Sachi's hand to calm him down.
Kirito thought hard how to deal with this terrible situation before remembering that Noah seemed to give a crystal -shaped item that looked similar to teleportation crystals. Although Kirito doubts whether the crystal will function because even though Noah tells him that with the crystal he can teleport anywhere, but the crystal itself is not registered in the SAO system, only a question mark.
Kirito took the crystal from the inventory and immediately destroyed it, in contrast to the sao item which removed the data of the data after being destroyed, the crystal turned into a golden magic circle with a mysterious pattern.
Even though Kirito didn't know that, but Kirito still looked at the magic circle hopefully.
...
Mid -European -style city, with white buildings and red roofs. The streets are coated with stones, and oil lamps are hung on a supporting pole and above the door, and bricks are used in several construction. This is Mishe, the main settlement on the 35th floor of Aincrad.
The players and NPCs talk to their friends, no one can distinguish the players and NPCs if not because of the names that are above their heads.
Noah stepped on the crowded streets with Asuna and Yuuki. They had just returned from Leveling Up and were about to relax in this city when Noah felt the strength of the space he kept in the crystal given to Kirito has been activated. Noah immediately saw the date in the player's panel, which showed June 12, 2023. Seeing this date, Noah knew that Kirito and Guild Moonlit Black Cat might meet a trap in the labyrinth as in the original work.
"Asuna, wait for me for a moment, it seems like Kirito in the problem" Noah's voice stopped Asuna and Yuuki's steps, before they answered, Noah disappeared in a gold magic circle.
In an instant, he found himself in the 27th floor maze, where the roar of the battle filled the air. He saw Kirito and a member of Guild Moonlit Black Cat in the fire tornado that protected them from the Monster Forestry.
Without hesitation, Noah without hesitation swung his spear and threw the monster which turned into a data piece because Noah's attack directly emptied their cellphone.
Kirito, who was initially surprised by Noah's arrival, immediately feel relieved to see his friend. "Noah!"
"Sachi, stay behind us! Prepare a healing spell when you can!" Kirito said to Sachi when Fia stepped out of the fire tornado.
"Good!" Sachi answered, trying to calm down and prepare with his healing spell.
With an impressive speed and accuracy. Every spear movement Noah has a frightening and scary attack strength and San gives critical attacks, in some attacks, the monsters are destroyed into scattered data pieces. Moonlit Black Cat members who saw that were amazed at Noah's skills.
Kirito on the other hand is also not silent, every combo of his sword attack kills every nonster in front of him. They fought for a few moments before the monster that surrounded them disappeared because the time limit of the trap had ended. Even though they survived, the members of the Moonlit Black Cat Guild were in a low spirit because Ducker had died in the trap.
After saving Kirito and Moonlit Black Cat, Noah returned to the place of Asuna and Yuuki waiting.
...
Kirito and others returned to the city of Taft where they were looking for Keita, the head of the guild who was buying a house and various equipment needed before they resigned from the battle.
Keita who heard Ducker's death was stunned for a long time before he waking up and looked at Kirito and others with an empty look, if it wasn't because of the existence of Sachi and other still alive, Keita might commit suicide. Deep deeply, Keita tried to calm himself. Keita did not blame anyone because they made a decision without permission to go to the labyrinth area, especially Kitito who hid his level, not because Keita did not care about Ducker, but he knew that he would also make the same decision as them because he was also too confident before And forget that this is a death game.
Although Keita did not turn it on, Kirito felt even more guilty of hiding his level and resulting in Ducker's death.
Sachi who was beside Kirito seemed to feel Kirito's mood and held his hand to provide support to him. Although Sachi was shy and timid, but because Kirito had provided support and encouraged her when she felt scared and desperate to this game, she felt this was the time he gave similar support to Kirito.
Feeling Sachi's hand that seemed to give warmth to him, Kirito finally felt a little better.
....
Time never stops moving just because of someone's death, White snow covers the entire Aicrad signifying the coming of winter.
Noah walks with Asuna and Yuuki in a park in Mujen city, 49th floor, they meet Kirito by chance who is sitting on a park bench under a Christmas tree with Sachi and a woman in a robe.
"Yo... Kirito" greeted Noah as he approached them.
"Hello, Noah, I didn't expect to meet you here" Kirito returned Noah's greeting.
"Kirito, I heard you've been looking for information about resurrection items lately" said Noah as he walked closer.
"You should know that in this world, those who have died cannot return, right?" Asuna said frowning at their conversation.
"But there is a rumor that Nicholas the defector dropped an item that can revive those who have died" Kirito denied stubbornly even though in his own heart he also knew that it was impossible to revive the dead in this game, because the NerveGear had destroyed the player's brain in the real world after death in the game.
"Oh, isn't this Argo the rat?" Noah said suddenly as he looked at the woman who covered herself with a robe. The woman had curly golden brown hair with a mustache on her face that looked like a rat. It is unknown why, Argo as a woman chose the rat human race.
"You know me?" Argo asked in surprise because only beta testers knew her. And she was sure Noah was not a beta tester. She looked at Kirito as if asking for an explanation. Seeing Argo's gaze, Kirito just shook his head because he had never told Noah about Argo.
"So is there something you want to know?" Argo asked without caring about how Noah knew her.
"I want to know everything you know about Baalram" Noah said seriously.
"Baalram?, isn't that the 13th floor boss you defeated. Is there something?" Argo asked trying to find information. As a professional information agent of course she would look for information from anywhere.
"If I knew, why would I ask you?"
"Hehehe..." Argo laughed embarrassedly.
"Baalram, I don't know either, because the boss on the 13th floor at that time wasn't Baalram" Argo said in annoyance. As an information agent, there was information that she didn't know that hit her pride as an information agent.
Noah sighed but he wasn't too disappointed because he had expected this, maybe only Kayaba Akihiko knew the truth.
"Then, see you Kirito, I hope you get that resurrection item" Noah turned around and left with Asuna and the others.
"Noah, aren't you interested in the resurrection item?" Asuna asked Noah curiously as they walked away from the park.
"No, there is no resurrection item, even if there is, there is a big usage limit. Besides, I don't need it" Noah said casually.
"Why?" Yuuki asked curiously, Asuna listened carefully because to her Noah was very mysterious. She knew Noah was not an ordinary person like her since the fight with Baalram.
"Yuuki, do you believe in magic?' Noah asked without answering immediately.
"Is there really magic? If there is, I hope I can be cured of my illness so I can be with you guys longer," Yuuki said in a low, barely audible voice, which was very rare for her cheerful and optimistic personality.
"Don't worry, Yuuki, I will definitely cure you. Even the god of death won't be able to take your life as long as I'm here" Noah said confidently and patted Yuuki's head.
"Really?" Yuuki asked with hope in her eyes.
"Yes, I promise" Noah said while activating his divine power, through Yuuki's consciousness in SAO, Noah's divine power enveloped Yuuki's body and continued to provide life force to maintain Yuuki's current condition so that it doesn't continue to decline. It wasn't because Noah didn't want to heal Yuuki, but because of the limitations that existed, he couldn't bring out his full power.
"I feel a warm current in my body" Yuuki said while closing her eyes enjoying the warmth.
"Don't worry, Yuuki, that power will keep your body out there from getting worse" Noah said softly.
"Although I don't know if it's true, but thank you Noah" Yuuki said with a big smile on her face.
"Noah, can you tell me who you are?, I want to get to know you more" seeing that moment, Asuna finally couldn't hold back the question she had always wanted to ask.
"Why are you so persistent, Asuna?" Noah asked curiously.
"I want to know more about you," Asuna said seriously.
"Is this a confession?" Noah asked in a strange tone.
"Hmm, don't get me wrong, as a friend, of course I want to know about my friend, that's all," Asuna answered hastily and evasively.
"Whatever, it's going to be a long story and it's something beyond your comprehension, it's up to you whether you believe it or not.." Noah told some things about himself while walking slowly under the snowflakes.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง