Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

"Hachiman..."

“Sorry for being late.”

"What are you talking about? We are companions."

“It was a close call.”

Kirito stood up with the help of Hachiman.

"Agil, take Kirito to the rear."

At this time, Argo had rescued King Ya and Lind, and was now talking:

"You two can hold your opinions about me for now. We can retreat now and everyone can survive.

If you choose to continue fighting... I just got some boss information and will give it to you for free this time."

To Argo's surprise, the two immediately decided to continue fighting. Their decisiveness in the face of death changed her opinion of them.

Kirito, who has recovered, is talking to Hachiman:

"Is that Bakaha? He caught up."

"Um"

"It's a bit surprising that he mastered the chain blade in such a short time."

Looking at Bakaha who was fighting alone, Kirito found that the Minotaur King was about to exhale again.

"Oh no! The breath is coming!"

"Don't worry, just watch."

Just as Hachiman had said, Nezha calmly dodged the breath.

At the same time, Lind's voice sounded:

"We just got intel on the boss, so it's too late to complain. They rushed here at full speed after getting the intel. Now for the key point: the boss's eyes glow before he breathes!"

"I see. That's why Bakaha can easily avoid it."

"Yes, he's holding the front line all by himself now. That's pretty impressive, isn't it?"

As Lind continued his commentary, Bakaha's lone fight was nearing its limit. The Raiders, regrouping, immediately engaged the enemy, with the tanks from both AD and AD teams spearheading a charge towards the Tauren's legs.

"Then Asuna and I will watch from the back. Come on, Kirito."

"Come on, Kirito-kun!"

"Huh? You're not joining the war?"

"The maximum number of 48 people is already full."

"Oh...yes..."

"But if you're paralyzed, we'll help drag you away."

"Thank you."

With the hard work of Team AB, the BOSS's hatred was finally transferred, and Bakaha, who relaxed, staggered a little.

"Are you okay?"

Facing Kirito's question, Bakaha weakly but firmly raised his weapon:

"I'm fine! I'm really happy that someone like me can be useful in a boss battle! Please ignore me and attack with all your strength!"

Under Agil's command, Team H joined the battlefield.

Whenever the boss's eyes glow, Bakaha throws the flywheel. The moment it hits, there will always be cheers:

"Pretty!"

The two people watching the battle talked:

"Watching the game is really lonely."

"The behind-the-scenes is also very important!"

"But the battle atmosphere is really intense, let's just witness this moment."

“We will do our utmost to rescue any situation.”

The battle situation stabilized thanks to Bakaha's activeness. However, the Legendary Warriors refused to engage Nezha, focusing solely on attacking the boss. Their equipment advantage significantly reduced their paralysis rate, making it difficult for Lind to order a retreat.

“It’s not appropriate for us to make such a request…”

"Yeah...it seems that team is beyond saving."

'There's nothing we can do'

"Bakaha could have found a better team..."

"But he is still atonement... I don't know in what form..."

"The victim may be at the scene..."

"Anyway, I don't want them to get the boss's drops."

"Yeah, I think so too."

"Come on, Kirito, cheer him up when he gets out of here."

When Kirito retreated temporarily, Hachiman suddenly grabbed him and whispered:

"You don't want that group of people to win the MVP, right?"

After saying this, he quietly retreated to the rear.

In fact, Kirito had already had this intention without being reminded, but this sentence made it a mission that must be completed. (Even the two people who couldn't participate in the battle worked together)

The attacking team maintained their formation and finally pushed the boss's health down to the red zone, where they could end it with the next general attack. Kirito concentrated and waited for the opportunity.

At the moment when Bakaha's Nth attack of the day caused the boss to fall back, Kirito connected with the maximum power combo of one-handed straight sword and physical skills, and finished off the boss beautifully.

　"As expected of you, Kirito-kun!"

“What a great timing!”

The second-floor boss strategy, which followed the turbulent first floor, has come to an end. Of course, all problems are far from resolved.

SAO: Chapter 20: The Outrageous NPC

The raid was successfully completed, and at Lind's suggestion, everyone decided to go to the third floor.

(Maybe they want to emphasize the sense of companionship)

Bakaha was holding hands with his companions and talking about something.

"It seems the 'Legendary Heroes' guild will continue."

"Yeah, it seems so. That's great."

"Well, that's not so bad."

Just as the three of them were about to head towards the stairs leading to the third floor, Kibo, who had been silent for a long time, came over and said briefly to Hachiman and Asuna:

"Thank you very much."

As for Kirito, he seemed to be unable to speak, and finally just said:

"Next time, feel free to order me around."

I followed my companions up the stairs.

"He said he would come and help next time."

“That’s his style.”

“Then we have to keep working hard.”

At this time, Bakaha ran over, bowed first, then smiled and said, "It's my turn to support my companions this time."

After the three offered their encouragement, Bakaha returned to his companions. As they began to climb the long staircase leading to the third floor, Argo appeared at the back of the group.

"Xiao Ba handled it beautifully in the end."

“I just did what I could.”

"I think without Hachiman, this would have been dangerous."

"But this is indeed like Hachiman-kun's style."

"I still underestimate myself as always..."

"Stupid, you guys think too highly of me."

When everyone finally reached the third floor, what came into view was a vast forest.

"All I see is forest..."

"What you see over there is the third-floor main street area - Zimford."

"I want to rest first... I'm so tired..."

"Maybe it's because I'm relaxed, so I feel really tired..."

"After all, you two have been following me around for nearly two days without any rest."

Hachiman and Asuna slumped to the ground, and Bakaha also slumped like a puppet with its strings cut. Seeing that Bakaha was the most exhausted, Kirito supported him and walked towards the gathering of the guild members.

"Then let's do the final finishing touches."

After Lind and Kibo activated the portal, everyone set out on their journey home. Kirito headed to the inn on the second floor, while Hachiman and Asuna returned to their usual inn on the first floor. Argo handed them the guidebook to the third floor, saying it was part of their reward, and then disappeared.

"Asuna, don't fall asleep in the bathtub."

"Hmm...it might be a little difficult."

"Be very careful!"

After Hachiman sent Asuna back to the hotel, he fell asleep as soon as he touched the bed in his room.

The next day, Hachiman didn't get out of bed until after noon. His reluctance to get up was incredibly strong. Trapped in SAO, perhaps Hachiman was simply working too hard.

"If I continue like this, I'm afraid I'll use up all my energy for the rest of my life..."

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, he received a message from Asuna. The message suggested taking the day off, but she hoped to chat while reading the guidebook. Figuring that since they were close, Hachiman agreed and began to prepare.

When I arrived at Asuna's room, she had already taken out the guidebook and began to explain:

"I just went to Zimford with Liz."

"So energetic..."

"I met Kirito and Bakaha on the way and chatted with him for a while."

"Bakaha should be more tired than me..."

"The guidebook mentioned this campaign mission, and they said it requires two people to team up to challenge it."

"This... the pay is good but it's very difficult. Give it a try."

"I thought so too. Let's go together tomorrow?"

"Before that, I want to familiarize myself with forest combat. Tomorrow, I'll take Liz to level up and familiarize myself with the terrain. How about starting the day after tomorrow?"

"It's true that we ended up just running around on the upper level. That's settled then! I'll contact Liz."

The next day, the three of them discussed precautions while on the move hunting:

"Be extra careful of sneak attacks because of the narrow field of vision"

"The hammer is a little hard to swing."

“It’s hard for me to turn around and defend immediately.”

“It’s safer to use the square as a base.”

After a satisfying harvest, the day's battle ended. When Asuna invited Lisbeth to participate in the battle mission:

"My level is still far from that, so I won't go this time. You two better be careful."

On the day the campaign storyline began, the two headed to the scheduled departure point.