Chapter 34

Halfway up the mountainside, Roya passed through the central area where the man-eating flowers grew.

In Sword Art Online, Naoki had once gotten Asuna into trouble here, and she'd never let him forget it. As a result, he still remembered this place vividly.

For a beginner, man-eating flowers weren't exactly easy to deal with—especially for Naoki, who was currently only level five.

He had no choice but to take them on one at a time. Drawing too much aggro would force him to retreat for the time being.

In SAO, it was possible to kill monsters above your level, and doing so granted exceptionally generous experience points. The catch was a special debuff that came with it.

This debuff scaled based on the player's level, determining how much damage reduction the monster received.

In short, over-leveling required careful judgment.

Naoki soon reached the center of the valley. Unfortunately, while he'd encountered plenty of small mobs along the way, he still hadn't spotted one of those hooded rats.

That left him a little disappointed.

Shaking it off, Naoki scanned the surrounding terrain and quickly spotted a lone man-eating flower.

Silently calculating its aggro range in his head, he stepped back to a safe distance. His right hand gripped a pebble as he took aim.

A blue glow shimmered across the stone—a sign that his sword skill had activated successfully.

With a sharp whistle, the pebble sliced through the air, carried by a gust of wind toward the distant man-eating flower.

The stone struck its target, and the flower roared in fury, charging toward Naoki. Once a monster was attacked by a player, its homing instinct kicked in.

Naoki had expected to lure just one, but it was immediately clear he'd miscalculated—two man-eating flowers were now barreling toward him.

Mobs like these grew trickier the more there were. As the saying goes, two fists can't block four hands.

Within a certain threshold, each additional mob exponentially increased the pressure on a player.

In other words, Naoki was starting to feel the heat.

Still, facing two man-eating flowers wasn't an insurmountable challenge.

With his current gear, he wouldn't be stuck in the awkward position of not even breaking their defense.

The flowers' mechanics were straightforward, lacking any special attack patterns, which made them significantly less threatening.

The real danger was the variant with艳艳 red fruit—those were a death sentence for anyone unaware of their gimmick.

The man-eating flowers charged down the mountain path toward Naoki.

Gripping his sword tightly with his right hand, he took a deep breath. Oxygen flooded his lungs as his heart pounded, pumping blood through his body.

But Naoki didn't rush forward to meet them.

Instead, he pressed his sword to his waist, falling into his signature iaijutsu stance.

This time, though, he was charging up.

A ferocious momentum began to build, concentrated within the blade by the young swordsman.

The Sword God Style was all about one-shot kills. While Naoki couldn't realistically take down foes far above his level, the damage from this strike would still be impressive.

The blue glow flickered once, then twice. Naoki shifted his stance, pulling his right foot back and stepping forward with his left.

When the man-eating flowers closed within five meters, he exploded forward.

The momentum peaked, his sword hand trembling slightly from the sheer force he'd gathered.

In a single breath, he closed the distance. A massive vine lashed out at him as the flower's maw opened, revealing jagged, menacing teeth.

Back when this was just a game, he wouldn't have cared. Now, it felt unnervingly real.

Getting bitten by that thing? Naoki could easily imagine how bad it'd be.

As he reached the flower, his speed surged even higher. The blue glow on his sword faded, replaced by a deep, pitch-black sheen.

With a swift draw, his black slash cut through the air. In an instant, the vine was severed in two.

The sword's momentum didn't stop there. Its dark gleam pierced the flower's bloated body. The weapon's sharpness, amplified by his overwhelming strength, sliced through its thick hide with surprising ease.

Green fluid spurted out as the flower's HP plummeted, its once-healthy green bar dropping into the red.

But at that moment, the second man-eating flower closed in from behind its fallen kin.

Gritting his teeth, Naoki couldn't afford to hesitate. Ignoring the second foe, he chained into another sword skill. Both hands gripped the hilt as he swung with all his might.

A second brutal slash followed. Though weaker than the first, it still wasn't enough to finish the job.

The flower's vines lashed out, wrapping around him. Naoki pulled back to disengage.

Exhaling heavily, his right arm trembled slightly. A glance upward showed his blue stamina bar had already dipped below half.

He didn't retreat. Raising his sword again, he reminded himself that these were just two measly mobs. Back in the beta, he'd mowed through dozens of them without breaking a sweat. Now, though, they were giving him a run for his money.

Skipping the iaijutsu this time, he held his sword forward. Sword God Style techniques flashed through his mind.

Raise the blade. Thrust.

Speed was key.

His stamina bar ticked down again, but this time, it wasn't just the sword—his entire body became enveloped in a blue aura.

A strange power surged through him, one he recognized instantly.

It was the same power he'd wielded in the world of Jobless Reincarnation as Roya—using magic to enhance his body, temporarily boosting his base stats to a terrifying degree.

Back in SAO's beta, he'd toyed with the idea of using the stamina bar to reinforce himself like this. Naturally, it hadn't worked.

The game's rules were rigid—only sword skills could trigger stat boosts.

But now, trying it again, it actually succeeded.

Naoki had a hunch why.

The system must have transformed this game world into something closer to reality, bending the rules in the process.

A quick glance at his stamina bar showed it dropping at an alarming rate.

No time to waste. His sword became a streak of blue light as he thrust it forward.

This wasn't a sword skill—just a plain, unadorned stab.

Yet it was blindingly fast. With a sharp crack, the blade plunged into the wounded flower. Its massive body convulsed, then shattered into blue light as it fell.

Without pausing, Naoki pivoted and drove a kick into the second flower. The sheer force sent it staggering back three meters.

As it struggled to rise, he lunged forward, sword raised. His right arm flexed, his stance low as he charged.