Event 121: Yamamoto and Moonlit Black Cats (2)

Yamamoto's movements were simple and elegant in such a way that he seemed to be dancing among the enemies, there was nothing to stop him and every time his thrusts passed through the body of a monster it disappeared.

The black swordsman who had previously been ordered by Yamamoto could not help but admire the combat style of the latter, a style that he had not seen in any other player, in fact there was no combo indicated by the system that is to say that Yamamoto fought without the need of the SAO system and only depended on his brute ability.

In just a few minutes the threat had been neutralized and the gates were open again allowing the tired rookies to breathe fresh air for another day.

"You saved us, I owe you" the black swordsman approached Yamamoto with a complex expression on his face as he spoke honestly.

"You don't have to thank me, everyone is trapped in this filthy world the least I can do for everyone is to help them and keep them from dying" Yamamoto put his rapiers away again then cleaned his clothes "I happened to be nearby and overheard their cries for help"

"what's a player of your level doing in this low level dungeon?" asked the black swordsman curiously.

"Don't you know Kirito-kun?" asked one of the rookies wearing a cap on his head "He's one of those free players who is dedicated to completing secret dungeons and obtaining rare items, you can tell by that lilac armor on his body, I've never seen anything like it before"

"Are you one of those players!" asked another newbie shocked looking at Yamamoto but the latter just laughed while scratching his head "If you're one of them it means this area is part of the secret dungeon and we entered by mistake, now it makes sense the trap from before"

"I don't know how they got into the hidden dungeon but I can say that they were very unlucky, now that they are safe again they should go back to a safe area I have a lot to do in this place" Yamamoto turned to go back to the place where he had seen his treasure earlier

"Wait...!" One of the rookies stopped Yamamoto's advance "You said this dungeon was dangerous, we could go with you and help you with your mission, you got the reward, we got experience, we all won.... plus you said yourself earlier, Kirito-kun is an experienced player, he can help you in head-on fights"

Kirito raised his head when he heard his name, when Yamamoto came to the room earlier he inspected the levels of each player and even if they could hide it from the others in Yamamoto's eyes that was not possible.

The black swordsman and Yamamoto had similar levels meaning they had both been on the upper floors, the difference being that the former had fought floor bosses while Yamamoto only faced hidden bosses.

"Are you willing to challenge a hidden dungeon together with me?" Yamamoto addressed Kirito directly, the latter evaded Yamamoto's gaze and turned his attention to his teammates who looked excited even though they just came out of an experience that could have been their deaths.

Kirito's vision focused on a flimsy girl among the rookies, one who carries a shield with both hands, that small gap did not escape Yamamoto's perception who put his arm on Kirito's shoulder "You won't be able to protect her forever, you don't know when they face dangers and it's better if she has experience, besides you will be around to protect her can't be better".

Kirito hesitated for a moment, he looked at the rookies again, he noticed his teammate who clenched the shield tightly "Sigh.... Fine, I'll go with you just for this one time"

"Great, it's better to have someone of the same level to support you, my partner had a tournament in the..."

"Tournament?!" exclaimed one of the newbies.

"Ah... yeah, a sword tournament on the upper floors, he wanted a treasure from there hehehehe." Yamamoto laughed awkwardly, for a moment he almost said they had business in the real world, but of course Haruta was practicing for the Kendo tournament at the time

"Cool, I want to compete in tournaments to win items too!" exclaimed one of the rookies excitedly as one of his friends calmed him down.

That little excuse attracted Kirito's attention but Yamamoto just let it go, the truth about the Fantasy Link was not mentioned due to not knowing where Kayaba really was and what his information network was.

So much so that Haruta and Yamamoto had almost reached level 50 without being caught by the frontline guilds.

The group advanced along the marked path, they finished off the monsters along the way with ease, usually Yamamoto and Kirito damaged them to make the rookies finish them off, it was a way for them to gain experience, other times they made them fight following the directions of both of them.

There was a moment when they stopped to chat, Yamamoto found out that the guild was called Moonlit Black Cats and was composed of six members, the leader was on the second floor buying a house for the guild, Kirito was the newest member and he lied to everyone about his level, at first the atmosphere seemed tense but then the situation just passed and everyone became friends again.

As a detail Yamamoto noticed Kirito's relationship with the slim girl who wore the shield, her name was Sachi and apparently both were on their way to a romantic relationship.

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"So you and the girl, Sachi.... are dating already?" Yamamoto asked unscrupulously while keeping a firm expression killing an enemy with a thrust between the eyes.

Kirito was startled to hear the question and checked to see if anyone else had heard that but fortunately it wasn't the case "no, of course not, we don't have any of that.... I mean I've only known her for a few weeks, it couldn't be that easy."

"why not?"

"Well, she and I are complete strangers, I don't know her in the real world..."

"those are just excuses, this is your real world right now, you live, sleep, have fun, cry and die here, you should start thinking that way too, think about the situation before" Yamamoto was referring to the trap where he found them "the way things were only you could get out alive and all the rookies had died, you would have had that weight in your heart forever, not only the rookies died but also a girl you appreciate and maybe you liked had died in front of you, if that was the case you will feel remorse for not doing things the right way, think about it as a reflection."

Kirito was silent for a few minutes helping Yamamoto with the enemies, both were moving fast, worthy of high level players.

*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***