Why did Hikigaya save the anime girls in Sword Story?

Kirito's contact came soon, and as expected, Rosaria and Silica had an argument, and Silica seemed to leave the team in anger.

Although Silica herself was saved at the critical moment, the dragon familiar died.

(I see, so the child is dead, but Kirito should know how to revive him, so it should be fine.)

Kirito decided to accompany Silica to the 47th floor tomorrow to obtain the item for resurrecting the familiar. He is currently using the "Mirror Crystal" to explain the location to Silica in the hotel.

The wooden floor of the second floor of the hotel creaked slightly under his feet. Hachiman moved close to the wall. In the warm yellow light that came through the crack in the door, he saw Silica's trembling shoulders casting a swaying silhouette under the crystal projection.

Suddenly, the sound of clothes rubbing against each other was heard in the wooden corridor. Hachiman held his breath and counted to three, then suddenly opened the door. At the end of the empty corridor, a streak of dark red hair was disappearing around the corner.

"The seduction was successful." Hachiman chuckled at Kirito, "She really took the bait."

Rosalia left the hotel, operated the window, and then returned directly to the base. Hachiman walked directly from the 47th floor to the suburbs and began to follow her.

After walking for a while, Rosalia seemed to be waiting for a meeting. After meeting up with her accomplices hiding behind the rocks, she moved towards the Hill of Memories.

(Finally found it, the Hand of Titan)

Afterwards, Hachiman sent the message to Kirito, who said that he could handle it alone, so he went to the prison area to wait and prepare to interrogate Rosalia.

The jail block is an area where criminals are isolated and lined with cells.

Green-named players can enter and exit freely, but players who were once orange-named cannot leave the area.

(Oh, here it comes)

Soon the corridor opened and the members of the Titan's Hand were transferred here.

Seeing this group of unusually docile thugs, Hachiman smiled bitterly:

(Hey Kirito, what did you do to them?)

The stone walls of the prison area glowed with a cold blue light. Hachiman leaned against the door frame of the interrogation room, watching Rosalia's shackled right hand twitching nervously. The bruises on her neck were obviously caused by the hilt of the sword - it seemed that Kirito was even angrier than I expected.

"Laughing Coffin?" Hachiman deliberately scratched the parchment with his pen, making a sharp sound. "That's the kind of name you'd find in the late stages of Chuunibyou. Are you planning a Halloween theme party?"

Rosalia suddenly jumped up, and the shackles collided with the stone table with a harsh noise. Hachiman dodged her left hand and grabbed her wrist and twisted it. Amid the crisp sound of dislocated bones, she screamed and fell to her knees.

"You crazy guys in the strategy group..." She screamed and looked up, her pupils shrinking violently with fear, "You are all murderers!"

Hachiman leaned over and whispered in her sweaty ear, "The difference is, we kill things that must die." His fingertips gently traced her trembling neck. "Now, tell me all the information about PoH."

After confirming that there was no problem, Hachiman threw her to the ground and left the prison area, allowing Argo to take over the interrogation.

When the recording crystal lit up blue for the seventh time, the door of the interrogation room was flung open, and Argo leaned against the door, throwing the dagger.

The intelligence dealer licked his fangs and said, "Xiao Ba, the list of cadres of Smiling Coffin is more interesting than you think~"

----

"We have obtained some important intelligence. The situation is more serious than expected."

Hachiman and Argo invite Kirito to analyze the intelligence together: "Laughing Coffin?"

"Yes, that's the name of their parent guild."

"Laughing Coffin? Funny name."

"The leader is a man in a cloak named PoH."

"PoH? Is that an abbreviation?"

"The intelligence dealer and the instigator are probably the same person."

"...It's the cloaked man I mentioned earlier."

"The known cadres are Molt, Johnny, and someone named Shasa."

"The group of people who disappeared on the 25th floor... I've never heard of Shasa."

"It seems a dangerous organization has formed in the dark."

"Do you need me to notify the major guilds to increase their vigilance?"

"Of course, it's always better to be vigilant. According to Rosaria... Laughing Coffin is a pure murder guild."

Although the immediate crisis was resolved, more serious problems were exposed.

One day they may have to clash with the members of Laughing Coffin. The members of the strategy group have more or less changed their views on life and death. If they return to reality, these values ​​may cause problems.

If you have to fight and can't subdue the enemy, what should you do? If your companions are in danger...

Hachiman silently made up his mind.

SAO : Chapter 43: Initial Threat Resolution

Several days passed since then, and with Argo gathering intelligence under Asuna's leadership, the outlines of the murderous guild "Laughing Coffin" gradually became clear.

The leader is a man in a black cloak named POH, and the cadre is a man whose real name is Johnny.

Although everyone only knows the abbreviation, members of the People's Liberation Army provided relevant information.

There are also red-eyed Shasa and former Holy Dragon United member Molt.

According to the description of the survivors of the incident, due to unknown reasons, the eyes of the monster were red, so it was temporarily called "Red-Eyed Sasa".

The strategy manual listed these four people as high-risk players, and disclosed the organization's name and guild emblem. At the same time, it was decided that if there was any important information, it should be gathered to Argo, and a countermeasure meeting would be held after his judgment.

In the past few days, Hachiman has been monitoring the town around the fifth-level "Endurance Recovery Mission" acceptance point almost non-stop.

In the wilderness of the fifth layer late at night, the blue light spots unique to the cold wind in the game swept through the bushes.

Hachiman huddled in his cloak, gnawing on hard black bread. The bitter taste brought by the virtual taste exploded on his tongue. This was the seventh consecutive day of surveillance.

Since players with orange cursors cannot enter the city and use the portal, it is speculated that the Laughing Coffin members move between floors by locating the teleportation crystal in the village outside the city.

This must be assisted by the Green Cursor members, so it is expected that members will come regularly to restore their stamina. Hachiman believes that as long as the Orange Cursor players continue to mark to restore their karma, they will be able to track down the Laughing Coffin.

(Another fake...)

Because it is very easy to become orange-level by accidentally injuring friendly forces, there are quite a lot of players coming to accept missions. Almost all those who appear during the day are ordinary players, so Hachiman changed the monitoring time to late at night.

The eighth one..." I stared at the timer on the edge of my retina, and my hoarse voice startled myself. At this moment, the blue light of the teleportation point twenty yards away suddenly lit up, and a masked figure emerged stealthily.

(Oh, this guy is acting suspiciously)

Late at night, Hachiman spotted a player who secretly accepted a mission. Usually, those who completed the mission would return to the town, but this person moved in the opposite direction and followed a suspected base.

(This appears to be one of the bases, but not necessarily the headquarters. We'll monitor the people coming in and out.)

During the surveillance, it was determined that this place should be one of several strongholds. When they were about to call for reinforcements to destroy it, they saw a familiar face entering.

(That's Molt, there are about three people inside. What should I do...)

The moonlight in the dark alley was obscured by floating clouds. Hachiman tapped his knuckles on the hilt of his sword twice, confirming the quality of the enemy's equipment through his "Enemy Search Vision". Judging from the enemy's equipment, he decided to contact only Kirito, Klein, and Agil to carry out the capture. Since there was no time for a meeting, he decided to make a quick decision.

"How's the situation? Is Mort still there?"

"Well, three people including him."

"Okay, arrest them all!"

"That's right, we can't let them go."

"I'm sorry to ask you for help so suddenly."

"Don't worry."

"Klein, you'll be guarding the back of the general store. Kirito will be in charge of the eastern checkpoint. Agil..." Catching a glimpse of the twin axes the burly man carried, he suddenly changed his tone, "Please block the main passage."

"I heard the next target is a big shot!"

"Well, all the leaders and cadres are dispatched. I don't know the details."

"so smart!"

(Oops, got discovered?)

The three nodded, signaling immediate action. Molt reacted quickly, but the other two were easily subdued by Kirito Klein. Hachiman faced Molt directly.

"When did you...?"

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Tsk, I guessed Rosalia might leak the secret, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Surrender, you have no chance of winning."

"Ha! How will you know if you don't try!"

Mort swung his sword and Hachiman took the attack without dodging. The sparks from the metal collision illuminated the health bars of both sides.

Mort stepped back, raising a cloud of dust, and slashed with his backhand to make a cross, but was hit by Hachiman's "Reverse Blade Strike", which cracked his knuckles. The counterattack instantly reduced Mort's HP by 30%.

"You left the raiding group too early, didn't you?" Hachiman's blade sparked. "You're obviously weaker than you were back then."

"asshole..."

During the fight, Molt's HP entered the red zone, while Hachiman maintained 70% of his health.

"Enough is enough!"

"Damn it! Damn it!"

"It's solved here."

Kirito came to support, and Mort suddenly tore off his breastplate and stabbed the poisoned dagger into his heart, exploding into light particles in front of the two of them.

"This is..."

"Crazy..."

But amidst the splattering data stream, Hachiman caught the other party's final lip movements: "You... are the prey..."

The three handed the captives over to the prison for interrogation. They only knew that there were about thirty members. After Hachiman reported, he held a meeting and deliberately did not let Asuna attend. After hearing what happened, everyone trembled.

"They are lunatics willing to commit suicide. It's hard to predict how many casualties the punitive expedition will suffer."

“But we have no choice.”

Linde spoke in pain, and amidst the commotion in the meeting hall, Hachiman proposed:

"I propose that each guild select awakened individuals to form a special operations team."

The plan was approved, and the meeting confirmed the combat capabilities of the cadres. The meeting was adjourned after learning that the other party would take action against important figures.

"That's it for now."

"Well, wait for new information."

"By the way, that familiar named Silica has been resurrected, right?" Hachiman asked as he looked up while wiping the blade.

"Yeah, resurrected," Kirito seemed very happy.

"Great."

Hachiman suddenly added, "Keep an eye on that child and don't let her get left alone," and the blade paused above the red mark of "Hand of the Titan".

Kirito narrowed his dark pupils, "Are you worried that she'll be implicated in the Hand of Titan incident?"

"Probably," Hachiman said, lying back on SAO's unique ergonomic chair, "I'm not sure about the movements below..."

"Hachiman, are you free in the next few days? I'd like you to train Silica in short swordsmanship and help her level up on the upper floor."

"No problem, you can stay at my house. Just invite Asuna along. She's been acting sullen lately because she wasn't invited."

Because Lisbeth bought a new house and moved out, two bedrooms are now vacant, and Hachiman has prepared basic furniture.

"It's absolutely safe there. I'll contact Silica right away."

"Set a time and contact me anytime. No need to return the favor this time."

"Damn... I want to buy a house too..."

"Your equipment costs too much krypton gold, see you later."

The special training plan was finalized.

SAO: Chapter 44: Silica's Meeting Training

[Twenty-second floor, Maple Leaf Corridor]