Chapter 641: Deterrence by fame
“Nn?”
Wu Yan can’t help but felt a bit taken aback by the crowd here. He stopped for a second, then, he continued approaching them without hesitation.
His footsteps disappeared in the pristine snow. However, the effect he had on the raid group didn’t decrease any further. He’s a walking legend after all!
Step step step step
He approached them at a steady pace. When he got close, the other clearing guilds had to part way for him. They did this without thinking at all. The moment they came to their senses, their bodies already moved out of Wu Yan’s way.
No one wanted to stand in the way of the strongest players!
Wu Yan continued barging his way into the group without giving anyone a second look. Haughty frontliners didn’t even think about messing with him. They might have thought about criticizing him but nobody actually said anything. They are all frontliners with very capable skills, somehow, their bodies just stopped listening to them.
An excited voice broke the barrier of silence.
“Yan!”
Souta greeted Wu Yan with an excited look. Souta also made sure to puff his chest out. He walked towards Wu Yan while all eyes are on him.
Wu Yan stopped and he turned towards Souta.
“I heard Sachi said you brought a team to do this raid. Why are you guys still loitering around the entrance?”
He glanced at the Knights of Blood Oath, the Black Cats, Fuurinkazan, and Divine Dragons, and the Army. He grinned and he cracked a cold one.
“What? You guys waiting to welcome me or something?”
Souta scratched the back of his head awkwardly. The Black Cats didn’t anticipate this, Their guild leader wouldn’t act like this under normal situation, he’s friendly but he’s not this agreeable with other players or guild masters...
He’s acting like he’s talking to his senior or idol...
Only the 3 other personal friends of Souta who are acting elders of this guild truly knew about Wu Yan’s contributions. Without him, the Black Cats wouldn’t be as prosperous as they are today.
In a lot of ways, Wu Yan is their greatest benefactor.
The other Black Cats stopped geeking over Wu Yan. They started putting on looks of joy and elation.
They are proud of the fact that their guild leader knows someone so high-profiled!
They felt pretty damn glorious.
Inside SAO, everyone knew about the mysterious and heroic Wu Yan. It’s hard to catch even a glimpse of him. The other clearing guilds only had a better chance to greet him than average players, even then, they couldn’t boast about personally dealing or knowing Wu Yan. They forgot about recruiting him because he made his disinterest pretty apparent.
The Black Cats knew about this and they are all proud of being in the same guild as someone who befriended Wu Yan.
Knights of Blood, Fuurinkazan, Divine Dragons, and the Army turned into statutes. They suddenly had a bad feeling.
If this legendary player cooperated with the Black Cats, the special boss...
The others started taking up guards instead of longingly looking at Wu Yan with admiration.
In front of a revival item, everyone knew the boss took priority over even a legendary figure.
Souta didn’t think so. He knew that’s not Wu Yan’s style. He preferred doing things on his own, that’s how he dealt with the Black Cats anyway.
Souta didn’t invite Wu Yan into his squad. He helplessly expressed his disappointment.
“Now that you’re here, I guess we can forget about getting the item...”
“Come now, don’t be so pessimistic...’
Wu Yan laughed heartily as he slapped Souta’s back.
“Who knows, you might even get the last hit...”
Souta shook his head.
“I wouldn’t dream of it...”
Wu Yan said nothing regarding that. He lifted his head and he scanned over everyone quickly. The others felt awkward when Wu Yan looked at them. Finally, he saw Kirito and Asuna.
It’s been a long time since they met. He had no particular feelings for Kirito, he spent more time looking at Asuna. She took his breath away.
He never saw her real-life appearance. He only knows about her 2D looks from the anime and light novels. Now that he got a good look at her, he has to admit that she’s a stunning beauty indeed. If he was to rank her against his wives, she would definitely be above average even among all the beauties he had the opportunity of getting to know.
Wu Yan thought as he greeted Kirito with a smile.
“Long time no see...”
“Yes, it has been awhile...”
Kirito sighed. He tried to recall the last time he met the only player he ever took seriously in this game.
“I think it was a year ago since we last met...”
“Well, I did hear about your achievements though...”
Wu Yan continued.
“The Black Swordsman? That’s quite a nice-sounding title if I must say so...’
“Are you teasing me?”
Kirito replied.
Who can beat Wu Yan in terms of achievement and titles?
“Hey, Kirito!”
Klein grabbed Kirito by the neck. He whispered to him.
“You know this guy?!”
“Yeah, kinda...”
Kirito said with a slightly bashful tone.
“We fought the first floor boss together...”
“You bastard! You didn’t even tell me you knew someone so great! That’s not cool bro!”
Klein glared at Kirito with a sour look. He’s acting like Kirito cucked him or something, he felt a bit disgusted.
Kirito and Klein continued exchanging words in secret. Wu Yan ignored them and he turned back towards Souta.
“Imma go now...”
Wu Yan left everyone and he headed into the woods.
Close to 100 players watched as Wu Yan ventured deeper into the forest. When he disappeared from their view, players started whispering among themselves.
“Vice-leader...”
One of the Knights asked Asuna for her opinion.
“What do we do now?”
The other clearing guilds also asked their leaders for the next move.
This revival item is too precious to give up. It even attracted the legendary player to make an appearance.
Wu Yan basically messed up their plans with his presence here. The raid players could have done this raid-style or use other trump cards to negotiate with the other guilds, Wu Yan didn’t play by the rules, there’s no need for him to listen to the norms of a raid group.
How in the world are they going to compete with someone who can take on the whole raid group on his own, can they defeat the Fae Swordsman himself?
Numerically, they had an absolute advantage over one player. It’s even arguable that they stood a fair chance of depriving that item of Wu Yan.
But, their gut feelings told them that is but an illusion.
Asuna pursed her lips, complex emotional fluctuations stirred her inner self but she still waved her hands.
“Let’s go! We will act as the situation unfolds itself!”
“Okay!”
The other guilds also made similar decisions.