Lugrue Corridor

When we were inside the cave surprisingly it wasn't dark at all inside but Leafa doesn't agree as she can't see anything so Kirito cast a night-vision spell

Kirito: "Osu naza noto raisa auga." Once the chant was finished Leafa's eyes glow green

Leafa: "Woah! I can see it here now! Night vision magic, huh? I guess Spriggans aren't completely useless."

Hikari: "Now that's just harsh."

Hikari: 'Come on you won't always battle head-on sometimes you have to be stealthy.'

Leafa just chuckles

Leafa: "But it'd be good for you two to memorize the spells you have. Illusion magic's all you guys are really good at though."

Kirito: "Illusion?"

Leafa: "You two can cause others to see things. Too bad it's not very useful in combat. Well, it's not like it's set in stone that lame Spriggan magic can't be any of use in battle." She chuckles the continues walking

Hikari: 'Oh you'll see later on Leafa.'

Kirito: "Damn, there goes our self-confidence."

Hikari: "Mhm." We then continued walking

While we were walking Kirito was trying to memorize the multiple incantations

Leafa: "Instead of cramming the incantations into your head, try memorizing the meanings behind the words of power, so you can remember the spells by their effects."

Kirito sighed

Kirito: "I didn't expect to be doing something that reminds me of English class in a game."

Hikari: "Hey at least we don't have homework in this game."

Kirito: "You have a point."

Leafa: "Just so you two know, high-level spells are around twenty words long."

Hikari: "Yeah I'm not going to do that I'll just memorize the incantations that are useful to me."

Kirito: "And I'd rather just be a pure fighter."

Leafa: "Would you two quit whining." Just then she got a notification

Leafa: "Oh, I got a message. Sorry, give me a second."

Kirito: "Sure." She then checks the message

Leafa: "Recon, again? It's probably nothing important though. "As I thought, my suspicions were spot-on, Be careful, s"... What is this? "S"? Sa... Shi... Su... Huh?"

Hikari: "Is there a problem?"

Leafa: "Well, the thing is-" Just then Yui popped out

Yui: "Papa, Onee-chan, there's something approaching us."

Kirito: "Monsters?"

Yui: "No, they're players. And a lot of them. Twelve in total."

Hikari: "Hold on what?"

Leafa: "Twelve?!" She then thinks for a second

Leafa: "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Let's hide until they pass by."

Kirito: "But where?"

Hikari: "Yeah it's just a straight path there's nowhere else to hide."

Leafa: "Well, just leave it to me." She then pushed us against a wall

Kirito: "H-Hey..."

Hikari: 'Too close...'

She then turned around

Leafa: "Shikku sharu obisu guron roputo." After the incantation a fake wall covered us

Leafa: "If you two need to say something, try to do it quietly. The magic will be dispelled if we're too loud."

Kirito: "Gotcha." I hummed in response

Yui: "They'll be in view soon."

We then waited for a few seconds after that me and Kirito noticed something in the distance

Kirito: "What's... that?"

Leafa: "Huh? You two shouldn't be able to see them yet.

Hikari: "We're not talking about the players we're talking about a monster. It's a bat I think."

Kirito: "We see something small and red."

Leafa: "Huh?" She then looked back

...

She then look closely to see two pairs of red eyes after that she jumped through the fake wall dispelling it in the process

Kirito: "H-Hey, what are you doing?"

Leafa: "That's a high-level Tracing Searcher! I have to get rid of it!" She then chants an incantation and the bat tries to flee

Leafa: "Ekku sukito tuttugu sumaru sutorida." After it was completed twenty small shining needles were fired out from her fingers and it killed the bat

Leafa: "We're running for it, Kirito-kun, Hikari!" We then bolted out of there

Hikari: "What why?"

Kirito: "Is hiding again not an option?"

Leafa:" "The enemy will have already noticed that the Tracer's gone, so they'll know we're onto them. Besides, that thing was a fire attribute familiar."

Leafa: "Which means the members of the party chasing us are..."

Kirito: "Salamanders, huh?"

Hikari: "Right... You did say those two races aren't on good terms."

Leafa: "But what's a group of them doing here?" We then got to see the town

Kirito: "Wow, it's a lake."

Hikari: "Now's not the time to be admiring the view Kirito."

Kirito: "Right."

We then go to the League Corridor and it seems like the player's arent there yet

Kirito: "Looks like we're in the clear."

Hikari: "Don't say that! You're going to raise a red flag."

Just then two projectiles passed through us and hit the ground making a giant wall in the process

Leafa: "Shoot."

Hikari: "You just had to say that."

Kirito: "Grr." He then took out his sword and attempts to destroy the wall but it was no use and he was deflected back

Leafa: "That won't work."

Kirito: "Should've told me sooner,"

Hikari: "In less than a second really Kirito?"

Leafa: "This is an earth barrier, so it can't be destroyed by physical attacks."

Kirito: "Can we jump into the lake?"

Leafa: "Nope. There's supposedly an ultra-high level water dragon-type monster lurking in it. It would be suicidal to try and fight it underwater without support from Undines."

Hikari: "So what are we going to do now?"

Kirito: "Well our only option is to fight."

Leafa: "Well yes, but we might be in over our heads. If Salamanders are using such high-level earth magic, that means one of them is a considerably skilled mage.

Hikari: "Hey you'll never know what happens in a fight." We then ready our swords

Kirito: "Leafa, it's not we don't have faith in your sword skills, but could you just stick to just supporting us?

Leafa: "Huh?"

Hikari: "He's right Leafa your our only healer in this fight, if you die, we're dead. not only that but we'll be able to focus on fighting without worrying about our HP."

She sighed and nodded and then she went back

After a few seconds, three shield users were in the front and nine mage users were in the back

Hikari: 'This is going to be annoying as usual.'

Kirito then rushed to attack them and the three shield users stopped

*CLASH*

A big clang was heard but it did nothing as it only push them back a bit not only that but they were healed as well I then jumped over them to see many fireballs coming right into our faces

Hikari: 'Of course...'

*BOOM*

Leafa: "Hikari! Kirito-kun!"

Once the explosion cleared out the both of us were in half health

Hikari: "That is... dirty..."

Leafa then prepares a healing magic spell

Leafa: "Sea firra heiraguru ausutoru, burutto subaru bani." Once she finished the incantation the two of us were back in full health

After that, we then rushed to them again

Kirito&Hikari: "Huuuuagggghh!"

*CLASH* *CLASH*

The same thing happened they were hit and healed back to full health even with two powerful attacks it did nothing if there were three healers

After that multiple fireballs came right into us

*BOOM*

Hikari: "Agh!"

Kirito: "Ngh..."

We were knocked to the ground

Leafa: "Sea firra heiraguru ausutoru, burutto subaru bani."

Our health was restored and we stood back up

Hikari: 'Oh my god they just keep spamming those fireballs!'

Leafa: 'At this rate, it's just a matter of time before their HP runs out.'

Leafa: "That's enough, Kirito-kun! Hikari! It'll only take a few hours to fly back here if they kill us! Let's call it quits now!"

...

Kirito: "Never."

Leafa: "Huh?"

Hikari: "Leafa... We would never let anybody in our party dies even if it means we'll die ourselves."

Kirito: "And that's the last thing we'd let that happen!"

Leafa: "..."

After the fire cleared out we both ran to them once again however

Kirito: "Huuuuaaaaaaaghhh!" His screams put fear into the tanks and we then tried to break through their shields

Hikari: "Grrrrrrr....."

Salamander 1: "Damn! What's with these two?!"

Yui then came to Leafa

Yui: "This is our only chance!"

Leafa: "Chance?"

Yui: "Please use all the mana you have left to block the next magic attack somehow!"

Leafa: "B-But what would that do?"

Salamander Mages: "Ekku barupa ein burando musupiri karra buresuta bani-"

After we heard they were chanting another spell we jumped back to prepare our plan

Leafa then looks at Yui who had a determined face she then smiled and nodded

Leafa: "Sea sharu rindo ashinya, bato eimi ogu suverundo." We were then protected by a butterfly shield

Salamander Mages: "suteipa randoru doroto!" Multiple fireballs came in contact with us but were blocked

Yui: "Onee-chan, Papa, now!"

Hikari&Kirito: "Sea uraza onto diputo, ren herubeguru!"

Leafa: 'That incantation is for an illusion-type spell. But all it's gonna do is make them look like a monster.'

The fire then turned into a tornado then two giant shadows appeared

Kirito was turned into the Gleam Eyes while I was turned into X-rphan the White Wyrm

Leafa: "Is that you, Hikari? Kirito-kun?"

Kirito&Hikari: *ROAR*

One of the shield members got scared And Kirito rushed to them

*STAB*

Salamander 1: "AGGHHHH!" He then disburse into flames

Salamander 2: "AHHHHHH!!!"

Jitax: "Fools! Maintain the formation! Only their form and reach were changed! If we stick to the plan and stay in formation, there's nothing to worry about!"

Hikari: *ROAR*

I then flew to one of them and ate one of them not before burning them into my mouth

*CHOMP*

Salamander 2: "AGGGGGGHHH!!!"

Kirito grabbed one of them and threw them into the ground hard

Salamander 3: "AGH!" Like the first one, they disburse into flames

The mages were scared like little puppies

Jitax: "C-Cast explosion magic!"

Kirito&Hikari: "*ROAR*"

However, it was pointless we both rushed toward the two and they couldn't finish their chant due to fear

Kirito used his tail to knock two of them into the sky

while I grabbed two of them and ate them

Kirito smashed his fist into the ground killing two other mages

The leader was scared as hell and we looked at him

Hikari&Kirito: "*ROAR*"

Jitax: "R-Retreat... Retreat!" I then flew on the other side blocking their path

*STAB* *CHOMP* *STAB*

The leader with no other option jumped into the water however what was waiting for him

Jitax: "AGHHH!"

He was eaten by the monsters lurking underwater

Kirito then grabbed one of the mages and pinches his head

Salamander Mage: "Please stop!"

Leafa: "Kirito-kun, spare that one's life!

...

He then dropped him to the ground Leafa then rushed toward the mage

Yui: "Quite the show, huh?"

Salamander Mage: "O-Ouch..." Leafa then pointed her sword at him

Leafa: "Now, tell me whose idea it was to attack us."

Salamander Mage: "G-Go ahead and kill me!"

Leafa: "Why you..."

Kirito: "Man, we really went all out."

Hikari: "You think?" Once the smoke cleared the two of us were stretching our bodies while walking up to him

Kirito: "Hey, nice fight!"

Salamander Mage: "Huh?"

Kirito: "That was a great strategy."

Hikari: "No kidding if we didn't have Leafa we would have been a goner."

Leafa: "Wh-What, Kirito-kun, Hikari?"

Kirito: "Leave this to us." We then winked at her

Kirito: "So, we'd like to make a deal with you. These are the items and Yrd that we got from your friends."

Hikari: "Just answer our questions and we might give them all to you. What do you say not a bad a deal eh?"

He thinks for a moment

Salamander Mage: "Seriously?"

Kirito: "Absolutely."

The two then chuckle

Leafa: "Men."

Yui: "They're such simple-minded creatures."

Hikari: "Seriously men would do anything for good loots."

Salamander Mage: "I think it was in the evening when Jitax-san- Um, he's the leader of that mage unit earlier. He sent me a text asking me to get online. When I did, I found out he was planning to hunt a couple of players with more than ten people. I thought it was just bullying, but when I heard that they were the people who beat Kagemune-san, it made sense."

Kirito: "Who's Kagemune?"

Salamander Mage: "The captain of the lance unit. He's an expert at hunting Sylphs, you see. But yesterday, I saw him running back from a hunt with his team wiped out. You two are the people that beat him, right?"

Hikari: "Oh you mean him."

Leafa: "So why did Jitax-san target us?"

Salamander Mage: "It seemed like he had orders from the higher-ups. Something about you guys interfering with our plans."

Kirito: "What plans?"

Salamander Mage: "They don't tell anything to an underling like me, but it seems like it was something big, When I logged on today, I saw a massive army flying north."

Leafa: "North? Are they aiming to clear Yggdrasil?"

Salamander Mage: "Of course not. We're trying to save enough to get every soldier ancient-weapon-grade equipment or better first."

Leafa: "Hmm."

Salamander Mage: "That's everything I know." He then looks at us

Salamander Mage: "Are you two going to keep your end of the bargain?"

Kirito: "Yeah, we'd never lie about a trade." He says while pumping his fist and Leafa looks at him annoyed

After the trade, we started walking inside the town

Leafa: "Say, those rampaging monsters from earlier were you two, right?"

Kirito: "Probably."

Leafa: "Probably?"

Hikari: "Oh that just happens to Kirito sometimes. If he goes berserk during a battle he would occasionally forget what happened."

Leafa: "Whoa... Scary." She stopped walking

Hikari: "Well I remembered everything from earlier. We used the magic that Yui told us to... We grew really large. Of course, our swords were gone so we had to use our hands or anything to damage them."

Yui: "You two were snacking on some of them too."

Kirito: "Yeah, that reminds me... It was a pretty fun experience getting to see what it's like to be a monster."

Leafa: "So... could you two even taste them?"

Hikari: "Oh you have no idea how delicious they were..."

Kirito: "They had the flavor and texture of well-grilled beef."

Hikari: "Yeah when you chew them it's like the juices were coming out making it even more-" I got cut off

Leafa: "On second thought, forget it, I don't want to know." We then smirked at her

Kirito grabbed her hand and I grabbed her neck

Leafa: "Eh?"

*CHOMP* *CHOMP*

I bit on her neck while Kirito bites her hand

Leafa: "AHHHHHHH!!!"

*SLAP* *SLAP*

Kirito: "Agh!"

Hikari: "Ack!"

~Lugrue~

After getting slapped by Leafa we then went inside Lugrue

Leafa: "Wow... So this is Lugrue, huh?"

Kirito: "O-Ouch..." The both of us had slap marks on our faces

Hikari: "Didn't know you would slap that hard Leafa..."

Yui: "You guys were asking for that one, Papa, Onee-chan."

Leafa: "I'll say!"

Kirito: "We were just trying to lighten up the mood with a joke after all that chaos."

Leafa: "If you two try that again and you two will be well-grilled beef."

Hikari: "Fair enough."

Leafa then sighs and looks at the equipment in a store

Kirito: "Oh, right. Didn't you get a message before we were attacked by those Salamanders?"

Leafa: "Oh, I forgot about that." She then check if Recon was online but sadly he wasn't

Leafa: "Come on, Recon... Maybe he went to sleep."

Hikari: "Can't you just contact him in the real world?"

Leafa: "Hmm well then, I'll lof off for a bit and check. You two just wait for me here." She then faces Yui

Leafa: "Take care of my avatar, Yui-chan."

Yui: "Huh?"

Leafa: "Keep an eye on Papa and Onee-chan so they don't try any more funny business."

Yui: "Roger that!"

Kirito: "Seriously..."

Hikari: "Well we did deserve it." She then sat on a bench and logged off while we wave at her

Kirigaya Residence

Sugu who logged out of ALO got off her bed and opened her lamp

Suguha: "Eh?!"

Once she opened her lamp she checked her phone which has dozen of missed calls from Nagata

*RING* *RING*

She answered the phone

Suguha: "Hello, Nagata-kun? What on Earth's going on?"

Nagata: "You finally picked up! Jeez, it took you long enough, Suguha-chan!"

Suguha: "I ran into some trouble in-game."

Nagata: "I-It's terrible! That jerk Sigurd is after us. A-And that's not all. He sold out our leader, Sakuya-san!

Suguha: "Sold out? What do you mean? Tell me the whole story."

Nagata: "But there's no time. Well, you know... Yesterday, when we were attacked by Salamanders in the Elder Forest area... Suguha-chan, didn't it seem strange to you?"

Suguha: "Strange? What about it?"

Nagata: "Sigurd said he'd be a decoy and lured three of them away, remember?"

Suguha: "Oh yeah, that's right."

Nagata: "That's not something Sigurd would do. Wouldn't he normally make someone else do it?"

Suguha: "Yeah, that's true. But what are you getting at?"

Nagata: "Well, you see... He was actually working together with them! Odds are, he has been for a while!"

Suguha: "Huh? Do you have any proof to back that up?"

Nagata: "I... had a feeling something was wrong, so I used invisibility magic to follow Sigurd around since morning."

Nagata: "Then, in a back alley, he and his men put on invisibility cloaks and disappeared, so I was positive that he was really up to something."

Nagata: "There were two strange men waiting for them deep inside the sewers. Then I realized that they were Salamanders! I knew I'd discovered something big, so I listened in, and I heard them say that the Salamanders had a Tracer following you."

Suguha: "So what happened to you?"

Nagata: "I'm still in the sewers, paralyzed by a poison arrow. The Salamanders captured me."

Suguha: "So that's why you called me in the real world."

Nagata: "And he's not just dealing with them! The thing is, Sakuya-san is signing an alliance treaty with the Cait Siths today, so she supposedly snuck off to a neutral region."

Suguha: "Huh?"

Nagata: "Sigurd plans to march a massive army of Salamanders straight to the signing ceremony!"

Back in ALO

Hikari: "This is delicious." We were eating some skewered meat since we were still hungry after that battle

Kirito: "You could say that again"

Kirito: "Ahh-"

Leafa: "I have to go!"

Hikari: "Oh hey your back."

Kirito: "Welcome back, Leafa."

Yui: "Welcome back."

Leafa: "Hikari, Kirito-kun, I have to apologize.

Kirito: "Eh?"

Hikari: "Apologize for what?"

Leafa: "There's something I have to go do right now. I don't really have to explain, and I probably won't be able to come back here either."

Kirito: "Then we'll hear you out while we're moving."

Leafa: "Eh?"

Hikari: "Well we can only leave here by foot, right? So just tell us what's wrong." We started walking

Leafa: "All right."

After she explained to us her situation we started running out of Lugrue

Leafa: "So, in forty minutes, at an area near Butterfly Valley, the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders will have a conference."

Kirito: "I see. Mind if I ask a few questions?"

Leafa: "Go ahead."

Kirito: "How would the Salamanders benefit from attacking the Sylph and Cait Sith leaders?"

Leafa: "First, they'd be able to prevent the alliance. The Cait Siths wouldn't stand for having their leader taken down because the Sylphs leaked the information."

Hikari: "Well that's obvious."

Leafa: "At worst, it would start a war between Sylphs and Cait Siths. Also, if they kill the leader, they'd receive thirty percent of her estate and be allowed to occupy and tax the capital for ten days."

Kirito: "That's a high price to pay."

Leafa: "With that being said, Kirito-kun, Hiakri... This is a Sylph problem, so there's no reason for you two to come along with me. We probably won't even be able to get back here alive, which means we'd have to travel to Swilvane again. No, if anything..." She stopped running

Leafa: "If you two want to get to the top Yggdrasil, it might be best for you guys to side with the Salamanders."

...

Hikari: "And why would we do that?"

Leafa: "Assuming the Salamanders succeed, they'd be in the perfect position to challenge Yggdrasil. Since you guys are Sprggans, they might hire you guys as mercenaries."

She clutches her hands

Leafa: "So, even if you two were to kill me now, I wouldn't blame you guys."

Kirito: "After all, it's just a game, so anything goes. Kill if you want to kill, and steal if you want to steal."

...

Kirito: "We've met far more people who thought like that than I would've liked. And it's true in a sense We used to think like that too. But we know better. It's because it's a virtual world that there are things we have to protect. Someone- no two very dear people to me taught me that."

Kirito: "If you let your desires control you in this world it'll change you even in the real world. A player and their character are one and the same. I like you, Leafa. I want to be your friend. I want to be your friend. And I'm sure Hikari would also like that right?"

Hikari: "Of course I want to be her friend! Why would I not when we already had an adventure. And we would never kill a friend of ours no matter what the reason is." I grabbed her shoulder

Hikari: "Your our precious friend Leafa we would never kill you."

Leafa: "Kirito-kun, Hikari..." She then teared up

Leafa: "Thank you."

Kirito: "Sorry if I sounded condescending. It's a bad habit of mine."

Hikari: "I don't know about I think it's a good habit." He rubs his head

Kirito: "You think?"

Leafa: "No, I was happy to hear that."

...

Hikari: "Aren't we forgetting something?"

...

Kirito: "Oh, shoot! We just wasted our time, didn't we? Yui, we're gonna run, so navigate for us!"

Yui: "Leave it to me!"

Kirito: "Hikari would you mind grabbing Leafa for us?"

Hikari: "Eh? Well okay." I then grab her hand

Leafa: "U-Um."

Hikari: "Sorry about this Leafa just hold my hand tight."

Kirito: "Let's go!" He then bolted out

Leafa: "Huh?"

Hikari: "Welp don't hate me for this Leafa"

Leafa: "Wait what do you-" I then rushed ahead following Kirito

Leafa: "AHHHHHH!!!" We then see monsters spawned in

Leafa: "H-Hey... There are monsters!" She then closed her eyes

We then dashed past them

Leafa: "AHHHHHH!!!"

Hikari: "Kirito are we near the exit?"

Kirito: "Yeah it's right there!"

Hikari: "Well hold on Leafa one last boost." We then ran faster going through the exit