Zongman, Rebirth of the Heaven-Defying Kirito

The spear-wielding girl was instantly speechless, her romantic dreams shattered by the katana user's words, leaving her utterly speechless.

The longsword player at the front burst into laughter upon hearing their conversation: "Pfft, you're way too serious!"

The swordsman did not refute, and he did not think he was wrong.

Seeing that the two had stopped talking, the longsword player in front began to ponder on his own again.

He stared at the cheese-covered ground beneath his feet and said, "By the way, as you can see, there are scenes made up of desserts everywhere here. I'm suddenly curious, what do these 'scenes' taste like?"

The katana user objectively analyzed, "According to SAO's five-sense immersion technology, it is theoretically possible to simulate the smell of a scene."

"That's exactly what I've been waiting for!" The longsword player instantly became excited.

The girl with the long spear seemed to have anticipated something and immediately spoke up: "Wait! You wouldn't be thinking of...?"

Before she could finish speaking, the longsword player suddenly plopped down on the ground, stuck his butt out, put his head close to the ground, and stuck out his tongue to lick the cheese-covered surface.

His posture was exactly like a puppy that had found some delicious food, both comical and carefree.

"Wow! As expected of SAO, the details are amazing!" The longsword player exclaimed while licking the ground, "This ground is so sweet! It's even better than the cheese I've ever had before!"

He turned back and invited the katana user and the spear girl, "You guys should come and try it too!"

The girl with the long spear stood there, her face full of shock.

No, he actually licked it?

Even in a game, there's no need to be so unrestrained, right?

She could already picture tomorrow's trending headline on the SAO forum: "Shocking! A player openly licked the ground on the 25th floor – is it moral depravity or a surrender of taste buds?"

Just imagining that scene sent chills down her spine.

"Say something to stop him!" The spear-wielding girl hurriedly tugged at the katana user's sleeve.

Upon hearing this, the katana user slowly walked to the longsword player lying on the ground and said expressionlessly, "How can you prove that the ground is really sweet?"

The longsword player paused for a moment, then looked up from the ground: "Why don't you try it yourself and see?"

"No!" The katana user remained calm: "If the ground isn't sweet at all, and you're just deliberately teasing me, then wouldn't I have been played for a fool?"

Longsword player: "So what do you want to do?"

“It’s very simple.” The katana user nodded slightly: “Prove to me that the ground is sweet, and I will believe you.”

Longsword player: "I already told you, try it yourself..."

The katana user interrupted, "I won't try until you prove it."

...a closed loop is...

The girl with the long spear covered her face, feeling her temples throbbing.

Although they met in the game, one of them is so serious that he gets stuck on trivial details, while the other is so carefree that he has no bottom line.

The future is worrying.

If this continues, they'll probably spend the whole afternoon on the cheese field, let alone exploring the map.

Just then, the girl with the long spear suddenly noticed a fluctuation in the air.

She looked up abruptly and said urgently, "Stop arguing! Monsters are coming!"

These words immediately silenced the other two.

The longsword user immediately got up from the ground and gripped his longsword tightly; the katana user placed his hand on the hilt of his katana and looked sharply at the sky.

In the distance, an owl was approaching—[Puppet Dessert: Hotcake Owl]

After seeing the monster's form, the longsword player's face fell: "It's a flying monster... If only our team had an archer, it would be so much easier to fight flying monsters with melee attacks."

"Get your act together!" The spear-wielding girl glared at him. "This is our first battle on the twenty-fifth floor. If we can't even handle a small monster, how are we going to explore deeper areas later?"

The longsword player scratched his head: "Okay, okay, I got it, I promise I'll fight seriously!"

The battle is about to break out.

The girl with the long spear charged forward first, her spear gleaming coldly in the sunlight: "I'll use my long-handled weapon to disrupt its flight rhythm, and you guys take the opportunity to finish it off!"

The hotcake owl also noticed the enemy below, let out a sharp cry, and with a sudden flap of its wings, swooped down towards the girl at the front.

The monster's wings whistled sharply, as if they were about to knock her away.

"Now!" A glint flashed in the spear-wielding girl's eyes, and she advanced instead of retreating.

The girl leaped upwards, thrusting her spear straight at the owl's wing.

"Pfft——!"

The spear pierced the wing of the hotcake owl with precision, but the owl's wing also slammed heavily against the shaft of the spear.

Both lost control and fell from the sky.

"Now's the time!" The girl with the long spear shouted to her teammates, ignoring the pain in her body.

The longsword user and the katana user immediately seized the opportunity, rushing towards the hotcake owl falling from the sky from the left and right respectively.

Both the longsword and the katana were drawn simultaneously, their blades precisely slashing at the owl falling from the sky.

Although they were just bickering, the two are now working together seamlessly.

After the hotcake owl landed on the ground, it lost its flying advantage and was unable to evade the two men's attacks. It could only flap its wings in vain to fight back.

Once a flying monster lands on the ground, it is no longer a threat.

With a flash of sword light, Hotcake Owl's health bar dropped at a visible speed.

Before long, the owl's health bar was completely depleted.

"Done!" The longsword player sheathed his sword and smiled at the spear-wielding girl: "How was our teamwork?"

The girl with the long spear got up from the ground, patted the cheese crumbs off her body, and said, "Feels pretty good. First battle won. By the way, did anything drop?"

The two checked the dropped items.

Then the longsword player said somewhat helplessly, "Um... would a hotcake count?"

The girl with the long spear: "...Keep it for yourself."

Although she complained, she was actually quite satisfied with her two teammates.

Putting personality aside, both of them are very capable, and with the three of them working together, they can put up a fight even against elite monsters.

But just then, the girl with the long spear caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye—a rapidly moving black dot.

Before she could even see what it was, the black dot suddenly turned and burrowed under the body of the hotcake owl that had just been killed.

"Wait!" The girl with the spear suddenly frowned, her tone filled with doubt: "Why didn't the monster we just killed completely disappear?"

According to previous SAO settings, after a monster is defeated, its body will dissipate into data fragments.

But the hotcake owl in front of them, after being killed, left behind a pile of broken hotcake crumbs.