I like traveling the most

It is not surprising that Kobayashi, as a member of the strategy team and a celebrity with gorgeous special skills, would be envied.

Not all closed beta players are as kind as Kirito and Argo. There are also players who are arrogant like Koharu. In addition to these, there are also malicious players. In fact, he attracted the attention of PK player PoH.

Perhaps it is because they consider that if Kobayashi and others who always get the last blow continue like this, they will get the guild flag and widen the gap with other players, so some players will be restless.

Maybe PoH is behind the instigation.

To be honest, PoH is now similar to a certain pot shadow. Any bad thing can be blamed on him.

Although he doesn't care, he even hopes to make others panic and cause greater riots.

Asuna is very curious about why Kibo and his team knew that the item dropped by the fifth-floor BOSS will be a rare flag. Argo said that there are more closed beta players than Kirito, and it is not impossible that other closed beta players passed the information to Kibo and his team.

There are a total of 18 members in this strategy.

Ten members of the Axis Guild, two members, Kirito and Asuna, two members, Koharu and Rinko, and four members of the Agil team. Argo is an intelligence dealer and does not participate in the task of conquering floors.

As for Klein and his friends...

Sorry, their current levels are too low, so there is no chance for them to appear for the time being.

According to Argo, Kibo and others who want to sneak away are scheduled to fight the boss at 6 pm, and in order to succeed first and not be disturbed, it is best to start before 3 pm.

Although the time is a bit rushed, Xiaolin said that they have no problem.

In fact, if he wants to, it is not impossible to conquer the boss now, but other players need to make some preparations, so they have to suppress their inner restlessness.

Argo will first find someone to buy the potion needed for this boss conquering, while Xiaolin and Kirito will go to the maze area first, and while waiting for others to arrive, they will formulate a battle plan.

The path in the forest was paved with blue rocks with long swords, so the footsteps on it sounded quite loud, but it still couldn't cover up the sighs coming from it.

"... I have a headache."

"Yes, I have a headache."

Kobayashi and Kirito sighed at the same time.

The two people walking in front of them sighed, attracting Aqua and Asuna who were chatting behind them.

"Kobayashi, what's wrong?"

"What are you sighing about?"

They will also be members of the BOSS attack later, so there is no need to hide it. Kobayashi showed them the plan he had just made with Kirito in the form of notes. But it was not a battle plan, but a list of members participating in the attack. Kobayashi, Kirito, Asuna and Aqua, their names were all listed on it.

"Because we have to decide the formation before arriving at the maze area, although we have expected it, there are so many DDs in the team..."

"What is DD?"

Asuna, who is not good at online games, was a little curious.

Kobayashi explained, "It means DPS. According to this list, among the 18 people, Kirito, Asuna, Agil, Robaka, Wolfgang, Koharu, Rinko, Ryu, Alice, and Kureya, more than half are DPS units. Darkness is the only pure front-line shield warrior. As for me, Sato Kazuma, and Youyou, we are CCs..."

"What is CC?"

"The person who controls the monster group. In other games, most magicians play this role, but in SAO, where there is no magic, they use sword skills with obstruction effects to stop the monsters or weaken them." Kirito gave his guidance as an old player.

"Ah, so long weapons have more sword skills with obstruction effects."

Asuna, who is new to the game, nodded suddenly.

Kobayashi sighed again, "Not to mention the serious lack of pure shield warriors, there are many useless people in this team... No, it's not an exaggeration to say that they are dragging the team down."

"Yes."

Kirito was also very troubled.

Pure magicians like Aqua, Huihui, and Rain, who are not good at close combat, will only cause trouble on the field.

Aqua shook her shoulders and shouted: "I, I can't do anything! I have only learned one physical skill now, but the attack power is ridiculously low! Besides, why can't I use divine power! If I can use divine wind, no matter what boss it is, I can easily defeat it!"

"...You are right, but you can't beat the giant toad."

"..."

"And on the second floor, you can't do anything about ghost monsters. It's obviously a goddess."

"Uh————!"

After Xiaolin said this, she immediately felt aggrieved tears in her eyes, but this was an irrefutable fact. She turned her head and threw herself into Asuna's arms and cried loudly. Xiaolin was scolded by this rapier beauty for his inconsideration with a stern look while comforting the stupid goddess.

Xiaolin scratched his head and said nothing more.

Kirito was a little surprised by the divine power Aqua just mentioned, but he thought it might be a case of Chuunibyou or something like that. In fact, he knew that Krillin established the Axis Guild because of Aqua, so he didn't say anything and put the problem in front of him.

"What needs to be decided now is how to distribute it."

Darkness is the only pure shield warrior, but the team has three. When the output exceeds the limit, how to allocate the defense talents is a problem.

Kobayashi did not expect that the perverted female knight would become popular one day.

"... Can't you find another shield warrior?"

Asuna chose to ask for help outside the field.

However——

Kobayashi and Kirito looked at each other, and both of them found each other's embarrassment.

That's right, one lives only in his own circle, and the other is a simple social phobia. Their range of friends is not as wide as imagined. And under the current circumstances, except for Agil and others, it is impossible to find other shield warriors in the strategy group——that would expose the risk of their sneaking away.

It is not appropriate to find other shield warriors.

Let alone whether there are shield warriors of the same level as them who always walk in front, if they give such a difficult task to the other party, not only will the other party be dissatisfied, but they will also feel uneasy. The most important thing is that there is no tacit understanding developed over a long period of cooperation.

"Kirito, do you know the attack mode of the fifth-floor BOSS?"

"Attack mode..."

Hearing Kobayashi's question, Kirito pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his head as if he had thought of something.

"--Yes! In fact, there is no need for too many shield warriors. Although the fifth-floor BOSS Golem Lord can attack directly with both hands and feet, the speed is very slow and ordinary players can easily dodge it. And if it has skills with super high attack power, it can't be blocked by a shield alone. In fact, there is only this kind of attack that needs to be avoided, but Darkness is not a problem."

"Well, that's no problem."

Kobayashi also nodded.

Then he thought about how to group and which team Darkness should go to, and finally got this answer.

Kobayashi Ryuzu's team takes Youyou, Alice, Kureya and Darkness; Aqua and Shin's team takes Huihui, Raine, Koharu, Rinko; Kirito Asuna's team takes Agil and his companions.

Since there are only three control characters, Xiaolin's skills need to be switched by someone. When Sato Kazuma has to take care of other problem children, only Youyou is the most suitable person.

And the burden of this strategy will be on Xiaolin's team, so people like Alice and Kureya, who have strong output capabilities, and the only shield warrior Darkness, are assigned to his team.

Of course, this does not mean that other people have nothing to do and can just watch the show from the side.

Kazuma has to take care of Aqua and others who are not very powerful on the periphery, while Kirito and Asuna's team will cover them on the side. When Xiaolin and Ryuko encounter problems or accidents, they will need them to take over.

Kirito looked at Asuna.

"How about this distribution?"

"... This should be the best distribution."

"I thought you would ask Geng to play the output group."

"Don't underestimate me. In the first-floor boss strategy battle, wasn't I also assigned to intercept the Kobold Guards?"

"Indeed, it's my problem."

"Hmph, that's it."

The rapier beauty turned her head away proudly, and the black-clad swordsman smiled helplessly.

I don't know if it's because the two of them have been together for a long time, Kirito always habitually asks Asuna's opinion after deciding on something. Xiaolin sighed in his heart that he didn't expect Kirito to be henpecked at such a young age.

Just when Xiaolin was about to tease them, the dead woods on both sides had come to an end, and a large stone wall appeared in front.

They were very familiar with this scenery.

They had seen it five times.

Although the scale reminded people of the starting town on the first floor, there was no street behind that wall. What was about to appear was the largest ruins on the fifth floor, and it was also a super huge maze that had to be passed to reach the maze tower.

Of course there will be monsters pouring out, so if you want to mark all the maps, it will take more than a day or two, so Kobayashi thought it was fast at first.

However, as long as you solve a few puzzles, you can take a shortcut that is almost a straight line, and this time you have a very reliable partner.

Argo has already solved the map.

"Here, this is the map of the maze area." Kirito visualized the map and handed it to the three people present, and at the same time complained: "I spent 5,000 Cor to buy this."

"Really? Then you made a lot of money."

"So I didn't say she was a profiteer this time."

"You have a really good relationship."

Kobayashi chuckled.

You have to know that this is a map of the maze area, and it was a map of the maze area that was obtained a few days after arriving at the forefront - the fifth floor. If it is sold to others, it will cost at least 10,000 Cor. The price given to Kirito is already a friendly price.

"This way."

The fifth-floor maze area stands in the northeast corner of the floor, and there is also a huge maze with a radius of 500 meters surrounding it in a semicircle. That is to say, the outer ends of the tall stone wall are connected to the outer part of the floor.

Argo's goal is the southeast side.

Since they left the road, they were attacked by monsters several times, but with Kirito and Asuna, they easily eliminated them and came to the bottom of the maze tower.

The current time is 2:15 pm.

The surroundings are a very lonely scene. On the north side nearby, there is a vertical stone wall about 20 meters high, and on the south and west sides, there is a gray wilderness with no grass. Behind the wilderness is a large forest of dead trees that we just passed. The slanting winter day dyed them into a single color.

Turning your sight to the east, you can see the endless sky from the nearby outer opening, but the dark blue-gray color always gives people a sense of foreboding.

The four did not rush in.

The frequency of monsters appearing in the maze tower is much faster than that in the maze area, and no one knows what accidents will happen in the maze tower, so for safety reasons, the four decided to wait outside the tower for the arrival of others.

This gloomy atmosphere makes people feel a little uncomfortable, but the stupid goddess is not afraid at all. She is talking and laughing with Asuna. There are so many topics between girls, and they can never be finished.

Kirito sighed slightly.

Obviously, when he teamed up with her, he didn't talk so much. Why did he become so talkative when he met Aqua?

His heart was slightly sour.

The young boy didn't know what this feeling was, but if he talked to Xiaolin, he would know that it was just pure jealousy.

"I have something to tell you."

"What?"

Kirito was a little stunned when Xiaolin suddenly spoke to him. Even though they have known each other for two months, he, who is socially anxious, still acts a little unfamiliar, until——

"I know who is behind the scenes inciting the players. His name is PoH. As expected, he wants to hinder the progress of the strategy team, and his purpose is to incite the players to provoke confrontation, create panic, and even fight each other."

"...What did you say?"

"Of course, I don't really want to tell you about this. It's meaningless except for adding trouble. And I think he is not mentally normal. You know, people with mental problems often do strange things, so Kirito, you and Asuna should be careful next time."

"How could it be..."

Kirito couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

A boy living in a peaceful era probably couldn't understand why PoH killed people in the death game.

As Kobayashi said, he didn't want Kirito to face this kind of thing, but SAO, which has become a death game, is as unreasonable as reality, and people who are close to him are likely to be targeted. To ensure that if anything goes wrong, Kobayashi can't let Kirito be instigated and become the cause of PoH's use to cause confrontation among players.

Besides, he had been very restrained and didn't mention PoH's death declaration, murder theory, and hope to be killed.

"Don't think too much, Kirito."

Kobayashi patted his shoulder and said, "PoH is not yet a force to be reckoned with. I can scare him off with a few words. And the way to solve this problem is very simple, that is, to complete the game as quickly as possible. As long as the speed is fast, PoH will not be able to pull out a larger group, and his conspiracy will be broken."

"... Only this method."

Kirito nodded heavily.

This is also the only way for good and lawful players to fight against chaotic and evil players. You can't kill the other party just because there is a potential danger. What's the difference between them and the other party? And according to PoH's idea, it might be just what he wants, to let his death incite the players, thereby exacerbating the situation of division and confrontation among the player group.

"It seems like this is a race against time. Not only do we have to defeat the boss this time, but we also have to complete the game, and it will get harder the further we go."

"That's right, Kirito. So--"

Just then, there were chaotic footsteps and noisy voices coming from the dead woods in the maze area, and soon many people appeared in front of them. Kobayashi stretched out his hand to the black-clad swordsman squatting on the stone slab and said:

"Come on, let's defeat the boss."

"Yes!"

Kirito grabbed the right hand that was handed over.