Infinite Trial from the Giant

Four days have passed since the successful capture of the giant toad. With the information provided by Loki, the two-person team consisting of Xia Tian and Loki has also made a smooth journey. At this moment, they are in an environment of forest ruins.

Unlike the forest on the other side of the Horenka stronghold, the main monsters in this forest near the Medei stronghold are no longer the black beetles and wild wolves, but some lizards, scorpions and a small number of plant-type monsters. As a relatively backward area of ​​the first layer, the strength of the monsters here is slightly stronger than that of the black beetles. Of course, it does not pose much threat to Xia Tian and Loki.

"It should be around here." After defeating another monster called a winged lizard that had a pair of wings but could not fly, Loki looked around and spoke.

The main purpose of the two entering this relic forest today was not to gain experience and strengthen materials. According to Loki, there was a task called [Secret Medicine of the Forest] in this relic forest. After completing this task, they would get a considerable amount of experience points as a reward.

"I just don't know if anyone else will take up that task first."

"Who else should go and pick it up first?" Xia Tian was a little confused after hearing Loki's words.

"Oh, by the way, Xia Tian, ​​you don't know yet, this mission is different from ordinary missions. For example, the crusade missions we completed before, even if we accepted them, other players could also accept them. However, this mission is special. If a player accepts the mission, then the NPC will not issue another mission before he completes it, and other players will not be able to accept it." Loki explained, "Most missions like this that can reward a lot of experience points are special missions like this. It depends on who can accept it first and complete it first. Fortunately, these special missions are not so easy to find. For example, if I wasn't chased by monsters during the closed beta test and happened to find that NPC, I would never have thought that there would be an NPC issuing missions in such a place."

"I see. Before the person who accepts the mission completes it, no one else can take it. According to what you said, if someone accepts it and deliberately leaves it there without completing it, wouldn't that hold back everyone else who wants to do the mission?"

"Uh..." Loki was stunned. He had never thought about this problem before. "Indeed, but no one would do this. It would not do him any good."

"Yeah, I hope we won't run into this kind of guy who harms others without benefiting himself."

After all, it was a quest that was accidentally found during the closed beta test, so Loki didn't remember the location of the NPC that had posted it very clearly. The two of them wandered around in this relic forest for nearly a morning before they found a small wooden house not far ahead.

"That's it."

However, when the two men approached the cabin, they found that there were already two other figures at the door of the cabin. The two figures were originally walking towards the door of the cabin, but the figure with a dark long sword on his back, either because of his keen sense or his enemy-searching skills, immediately spotted Xia Tian and the other man approaching.

Looking at the one-handed swordsman who turned his head, Xia Tian's pupils shrank slightly.

"I thought it was a monster..." After seeing Xia Tian and the other man, the one-handed swordsman looked relieved.

Xia Tian's gaze moved away from the one-handed swordsman and stopped on the figure standing next to him.

If Kayaba Akihiko had not given that small mirror to the players in the Sword Art Online world, there would surely be quite a large number of 'female characters' now. However, under the effect of the small mirror that can reflect one's true appearance, these female disguises created by male players have been stripped off. So in fact, the number of female players in Sword Art Online is extremely rare. At this moment, standing next to the one-handed swordsman is the first female player seen since the game officially began.

Charming and lovely, this is the first impression given by this pretty figure in front of you. In this world where there are few female characters, people like her can definitely arouse the desire to protect and possess them among many male players. The dazed Loki next to Xia Tian is the best proof of this.

As if she was not used to being stared at like this, the woman blushed and turned her head away. At the same time, she moved her body, grabbed the one-handed swordsman's hand, and hid behind him.

The gaze on the woman met the gaze of the one-handed swordsman. Loki suddenly came back to his senses, smiled awkwardly, and then turned to look at Xia Tian: "It seems that the two of them are here for that mission as well."

"There are only two of them, and it looks like they are together. Let them take the quest first. We can kill some monsters nearby and wait for them to finish," Xia Tian gave his opinion before Loki could continue.

"Then let's do it." Loki nodded, then looked at the two people in front of him again. Just as he was about to speak, his eyes suddenly went dark, and he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Loki's sudden fainting prevented Xia Tian from reacting. Before Xia Tian could check on Loki's condition, the one-handed swordsman who was watching the two of them suddenly fell down.

"Kirito!"

Seeing him faint, the woman next to him looked panicked and bent down anxiously to check on his condition.

At first, Xia Tian was not 100% sure of the other party's identity, but after hearing the shout, there was no need to doubt it anymore.

Now that Kirito's identity has been confirmed, the identity of the woman following him is now clear.

Xia Tian didn't expect that the fighter who got there first was actually a woman, and judging from her actions just now, it seemed that she had established a very close relationship with Kirito.

And... the advantage of being a woman, you have to know that at this time, Asuna, the heroine, has not yet appeared, so as long as she takes advantage of this time to establish a close relationship with Kirito or even above, she can completely take Kirito for herself. It must be said that although this approach will sacrifice herself, in Xia Tian's view, it is definitely a very worthwhile choice. After all, if he were this woman, he would probably do the same.

But what is the situation now?

Was it a trap? Why did it only work on Loki and Kirito, leaving us two fighters alone?

Wait... Fighter...

A thought flashed through Xia Tian's mind like lightning.

In the original work, it is mentioned that within a few weeks after the game started, there were cases where players were suddenly disconnected for several hours, and the reason was that the players' bodies in the real world were transported to the hospital to maintain their lives. If this is the reason why Loki and Kirito fainted, it makes sense, after all, as fighters, Xia Tian and the woman would not be affected by this disconnection.

Not good...

Originally, because of Kirito's appearance, Xia Tian also confirmed the identity of the other fighter, but the other party did not know his identity. In this situation, if the other party can also think of the reason for the disconnection...

Thinking of this, Xia Tian looked forward, and just at this moment, the other party's surprised gaze collided with Xia Tian's.