Chapter 639: The Flash, Asuna...
Aincrad, 35th floor, the Forest of Wandering.
There’s a special boss that will only spawn on this night alone, it will drop a revival item upon defeat.
A revival item is a very rare item. It’s so rare that it should get its own class of rarity. After tonight, the boss won’t spawn again. There can only be one revival item and only one person can get it.
This is literally a one-of-a-kind item in SAO.
The most important thing in SAO isn’t equipment or Cors. It’s the player’s own life because game over in-game equal game over in real-life.
A revival item means carrying around an extra life. Its a rarity is also a feature that many coveted since there’s only one such item in the entire game. A lot of players started gathering on this floor.
They are mostly frontliners or guild members related to frontliners. In terms of information gathering speed, frontliners are the people who are the most efficient at gathering such information. While the average players are still waiting for more news, they are already in the forest.
In the original story, Kirito who wanted to revive Sachi came here with Fuurinkazan. Divine Dragons Alliance also stalked the former parties.
However, most of the core raid players are here for this boss. Suffice to say that the story has deviated from the original storyline.
He can more or less guess why the events deviated from the original story. For one, Kirito wasn’t desperate enough to analyze the information and deduce the boss’s location because Sachi didn’t die nor was he close to Sachi in this version of SAO. He did everything in his power to prepare for this boss fight because he wanted to revive Sachi in the original work, he even went so far as to challenge the boss on his own, almost dying in the process. He did all that because Kirito didn’t want the item falling into anyone’s hands.
Sachi and Kirito treated each other like fellow frontliners, they didn’t even talk much during the two or three times they met.
Kirito had a laidback attitude, the others caught up as a result.
Almost all active raid players are here for the revival item.
The players took up four main areas at the entrance of the Forest of Wandering.
The eastern-most faction all had red armors, they had the characters of Fuurinkazan written somewhere on their weapons. Leading them, Klein oversaw dozens of members. They aren’t the gang with the most members here but they had a very organized feel around them. Nobody doubted that they had the ability to take down the boss.
Next to them, the Divine Dragons Alliance sent a squad with no apparent leader. They are the group with the most disorganized looks among them all. The members also looked very shady. They looked like a bunch of very dodgy individuals. Without fail, each of them gave everyone a bad impression.
The Moonlit Black Cats stood near the Divine Dragons, the Black Cats are led by Souta. Other than the original group of male guild members, the rest were newcomers. Sachi and Shion didn’t come for this raid. They are not prepared for this raid. At least, they aren’t quite frontline material yet. Sachi is mostly tasked with the administrative task within the Moonlit Black Cats. Shion is the official potion master of the guild, she rarely participated in battles but that’s fine with her, she liked to stay away from the battlefield anyway.
The Black Cats aren’t wearing uniform armors like Fuurinkazan, but, their equipment is top-notch. Souta used his relationship with Wu Yan to buy cheap uber-gears.
Wu Yan stood at the very top of the player base. His levels and capabilities allowed him to get his hands on quality equipment. He had no use for so much equipment so he tasked Souta & co with the disposal and handling of equipment. Soon, they had enough funds from previous dealings to buy any equipment Wu Yan put up for sale.
The Knights of Blood are also present. They can be recognized from their mainly white armor which is red-gilded. Their capes are also very well-designed as well.
There are only about a dozen KoB members here. They are about the same number as the attendees from Fuurinkazan and Moonlit Black Cats. Only the Divine Dragons sent way more members than the other guilds.
Special bosses tend to be stronger than even field bosses. Everyone estimated that this boss will come with the power of a 40th-floor boss at the very least. In this case, sending mooks here will only slow down the raid process.
Leading KoBs is a very beautiful female player. She stood out as the only female player in this raid group.
She wore a red and white uniform just like the other KoBs, she had a skirt with faulds covering her rump and legs. The faulds lined up aesthetically with her white cape. Everyone could see her luscious shoulders. Her white knee-high socks covered anything below her knees but she still looked very exquisite. She had a well-designed breastplate and she came here with a weird-looking rapier strapped to the side of her waist. She was the shortest of her group but her aura is definitely the sharpest of them all.
Her chestnut hair danced elegantly behind her back. She tied her hair up in braided pigtails. Her bangs nearly touched her eyebrows. Her hair was long enough to reach her waist. Her orange-brownish eyes were cool and composed just like a gallant hero in legends.
The flash, Asuna.
The sub-leader of the Knights of Blood Oath.
She hid her true face behind her hood during the start of SAO. She finally revealed her looks to the world and she looked very enchanting indeed. She also transformed from a capable player to a sub-leader of the strongest guild in SAO. She’s probably the strongest female player in SAO.
In terms of talent and strength, she is definitely a first-class player.
Her coolness gave her a very distant feeling. She felt like someone who must not be defiled and should only be admired from afar. An absolute beauty by her face alone, she looked strangely melancholic for some reason.
Asuna furrowed her brows when she saw the Black Cats, Fuurinkazan, and Divine Dragons Alliance.
Asuna expected a bloody storm to brew when she came to this forest. She didn’t think they would be stuck here at the entrance.
Suddenly, at the entrance, a ripple-like distortion occurred. After a few flashes, dozens of players appeared in a uniform-armor like that of a military organization. They barged their way into the center of this place like brutes.
A lot of people frowned.
Asuna glared at them.
“To think the Army is here as well. It’s a revival item after all...”
Asuna turned away after a quick glance. The Divine dragons and the army are not worth mentioning.
Souless players who use numbers to their advantage, they also lacked capable fighters.
Another spatial distortion came and a person draped in bluish-black coat appeared. He had a longsword strapped to his back.
Klein cried out in joy.
“Kirito!”
It’s Kirito.