[Comprehensive] Light and Shadow

SwordArtOnlineAugust 2024, 8

After the ghost ship collided with the cruise ship on the Tislie River, not only the people on the cruise ship were affected, but all the people in the city of mirrors on the [-]th floor.

Just like a starting point, when the cruise ship exploded and the flames spread across the water, a huge vortex loomed in the river, and then the whole city trembled.

The bridge connecting the front of the mirror and the back of the mirror was completely broken into the water and submerged in the vortex, and the latter two cities began to rotate in the opposite direction. The rotation was very slow, but it was undoubtedly a panic for the people in the town.

The vortex on the Tislie River is constantly expanding, as if it is going to sweep the river into the bottomless pit, and the debris and flames of the original cruise ship are also instantly swallowed, leaving only the people who landed in a thrilling cold sweat and survived. But he watched the town where he was located was constantly moving.

The two cities in front of the mirror and behind the mirror rotate relative to each other, and what is even more surprising is that the two snow mountains are beginning to melt at a speed discernible to the naked eye.The large and small white cotton-like snow hills began to dissolve, and the cascading blue spring pools mixed with the transparent snow water fell layer by layer, and began to flow around the entire seventy-story city. It became a stream surrounding the entire seventy-story mirrored city.

What is even more incredible is that after the rotation, the distance between the two snow-capped mountains gradually shortened from the furthest distance, and finally they were close to each other. distance.But as the vortex expanded, the water in the river began to dry up inexplicably, and finally the two snow-capped mountains were slowly and gracefully approaching to merge.

Seen from a distance, the two snow mountains merge into one huge snow mountain, but the snow water and spring water still melt under the rays of the sun, and the crystal water is like a river falling from the sky, and evaporates under the sun continuously. The water reflects gorgeous colors under the light, turning into a beautiful miracle of light and shadow.Then the river fell to the foot of the mountain, but flowed down along the gap between the two snow mountains until it submerged in the trickling river surrounding the entire mirrored city.

——The entire city of mirror images is like an island above the sea at this moment.

What shocked everyone even more was that the snow mountain turned into a snow-white castle after melting.

Following that, the labyrinth area was officially opened.

Although no one knows what happened, one thing is obvious is that the official opening of the labyrinth area was due to the accident on the Tislie River, no, it was definitely not an accident.

And the labyrinth area on the [-]th floor is inside the castle that melted into the snow mountain and appeared.

"Klein, I still can't find any information about Kirito." The girl in the red and white knight outfit looked worried, her fair face was pale and haggard, and there was nothing in the golden orange pupils. Undisguised anxiety.

"Asuna, don't worry, Kirito will be fine." Klein also frowned, looking no less worried than Asuna, but nevertheless he comforted the girl.

Since Kirito was involved in the vortex yesterday, Klein has been looking for Kirito's whereabouts everywhere in the organizer, and at the same time told Asuna the news.Throughout the night, they worriedly searched for Kirito's trace, but they found nothing.

The original friend's email information was also blocked, not everyone, but only Kirito's information was completely blocked, and he could not send messages to Kirito.The witnesses with Klein only saw Kirito and a boy fall into the whirlpool together, but no other third person fell into the whirlpool together.

In fact, if you think about it this way, it would be a bit unbelievable.

After the shipwreck, those who fell into the river either died or fled, but the only ones who fell into the whirlpool were Kirito and that boy.

Moreover, Kirito's news was completely blocked.

"I'm going to the labyrinth area." Asuna stared at the castle in the center of the mirrored city seriously, clenched her hands, as if she had finally made up her mind at that moment.

If Kirito is not dead and is blocked by information, the most likely possibility is that he was trapped in the labyrinth area.After all, the maze area appeared after that huge accident, and that vortex must have something to do with the maze area.

"Asuna, don't worry, it's too dangerous for you to go to the labyrinth area alone." Klein immediately gave a look of disapproval, not to mention whether Kirito is in the labyrinth area, the city of mirror images on the [-]th floor was originally It's just too weird, and it's the first time that everyone has encountered a layer in the labyrinth that took so long to appear.

Everyone is waiting for information, waiting for the departure of the strategy team, so no one will be the first to act rashly and step into the labyrinth area.

"Kirito is not that weak." Klein looked at Asuna's still resolute eyes, and added, Asuna turned her head to look at Klein, her eyes were a little loose, but she still bit her lower lip. Still staring at the place where the labyrinth area is.

"Master Asuna." The man who was more than ten meters away from Asuna finally approached, looked at Asuna respectfully, but glanced at Klein with a dark and contemptuous look.Judging from the man's clothing, he is also a member of the Knights of the Blood Order.

"Asuna, what is this?" Klein felt a little strange seeing the man's eyes, and frowned slightly, then looked at Asuna, but found that the girl's expression was slightly disgusted and irritated.

"I am Lady Asuna's guard, Klatil." The man looked middle-aged, but he had an arrogant expression on his face, and looked at Klein coldly and arrogantly.

"Didn't I say not to follow me today?" Asuna's tone was impatient, and she looked at Klatir angrily from the corner of her eyes, obviously because of Kirito's disappearance and this guard. Some unpleasant contradictions occurred.

"It is my duty to follow Asuna-sama, and the leader has a message." When Klatir looked at Asuna, his eyes immediately changed, respectful and full of enthusiasm.Presumably it was because the leader had the information, so he had a good reason to approach Asuna again.

"What?" Asuna asked with suppressed anger after listening to Klatir's words.

"The leader asked Asuna-sama to go back to the headquarters, saying that he wanted to discuss the matter of conquering the [-]th floor." Klatir immediately followed Asuna's words, but obviously stayed by Asuna's side again, and would not It's more than ten meters away.

"Strike the seventieth floor..." Asuna murmured, looking at the labyrinth area where the castle was located with some hesitation.

"Yeah, Asuna, you should go back and discuss with your team leader about conquering the labyrinth area. I will continue to investigate Kirito's situation here. If there is any news, I will definitely let you know." Afraid that Asuna really Klein, who went to the labyrinth area alone, also spoke.

Asuna hesitated for a while, then finally nodded.

After seeing Asuna leave, Klein heaved a sigh of relief, and then found the shop of the item merchant Agil on the fifty floors.

"You said, you have information about Kirito?" Klein looked suspiciously at the strong, dark-skinned man in front of him.

"Yeah." Agil nodded, without much expression on his face, but frowned slightly, "You said before that the boy with purple hair and purple eyes was with Kirito that day."

"Do you know who that person is?" Klein stared at Agil in surprise.

"Probably after Christmas last year, Kirito asked me to inquire about the admission ticket of the mysterious TROHS store." Agil said with a bit of thought and memory in his eyes.

"What does this have to do with it?" Klein's eyes twitched slightly, not understanding the relationship between the two.

"As you know, Kirito seldom asks people to do anything for him." Agil asked Klein, Klein was stunned and then nodded, and Agil continued, " But when I finally got the ticket and asked him, he said no more."

"If it is no longer used, it can be understood that he has already entered." Agil reached out and knocked on the wooden table, as if he was habitually listening to the sound of thumping, thinking, "It was previously reported that the TROHS The owner of the mysterious shop is a purple-haired and purple-eyed boy in a black robe..."

"What! You said that Kirito brought out that NPC owner?" Klein finally understood what Agil was talking about for so long, and immediately interrupted Agil in surprise.

"This, this, is it a coincidence? How could it be possible to bring the NPC out and go on a cruise together..." Klein felt that it was wrong, after all, no matter how real it was, it was still a game.What's more, Kirito wouldn't be so against the heavens if he brought the owner of the store in charge of various legendary treasure items to the outside world.

"I'm just guessing." Agil looked a little helpless at Klein's surprised look, "I thought it was a coincidence at first, but look at this."

Agil reached out and swiped in mid-air, and turned to the friend column in the interface that appeared.

"The words Kirito's color in the friend information have become light gray, and messages cannot be sent in the mail system, so we all think that Kirito was blocked by something."

Agil pointed to Kirito's name written in light gray on the friend interface.

"The TROHS mysterious shop entry ticket I found for Kirito has always been in the inventory, you see."

Agil pointed to the admission ticket that also turned light gray, but it was blocked even though it was an admission ticket.Agil clicked on the admission ticket, and should have entered the store directly, but there was no response at this time.

"Everything is blocked." Agil looked at Klein, who frowned slightly and had a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"Then, that boy is really..." Klein still couldn't believe it, but if it was a coincidence, it would be too accidental.

"I went to the information dealer and bought information about the NPC shopkeeper. It is said that the task everyone went to the shop to accept was to obtain the flower in front of the mirror on the [-]th floor. But so far, no one seems to be able to reach the mountain in front of the mirror. the top of the mountain." Agil looked at Klein.

"I've been there too, but the monsters on the top of the mountain have too much HP, so there's really no way to get close to the top of the mountain. I've also tried the mountain behind the mirror, but I can't go up either." Klein nodded with a serious expression in agreement .He used to go to the top of the mountain with other companions, but the level of the snow beasts there was very high, and it was impossible to kill them smoothly.

"But someone saw Kirito carrying a boy on his back to the top of the mountain behind the mirror, and there were no snow beasts to stop him." Agil tapped his hands on the table more vigorously, his brows and eyes were full of thoughts, " It's like deliberately inducing Kirito to go to the top of the mountain behind the mirror."

"You mean..." Klein also suddenly thought of something, staring at Agil in surprise.

"If that boy is really the owner of the mysterious shop, he must know all the information on the [-]th floor. I suspect that not only the mission of the flower in front of the mirror, but also the cruise ship accident and whirlpool this time are not accidents, but are all aimed at Tong. Human."

"Is Kirito in danger now?" Klein asked quickly, his eyes full of anxiety.

Agil's hands paused, he stopped knocking on the table, his brows were tightly frowned, there was hidden worry in his brows and eyes, and he didn't speak.

In the forest on the other side—

"Then, let's go to the wooden house first." Kirito, who had just received a princess outfit reward in the forest, looked at his outfit in annoyance, but he calmed down a little when he thought of the bright smile of the boy before.At least, no one else saw him like this, but the most important thing now is to go to that wooden house to take a look.

It was too obvious. In the whole forest, only this wooden house was too obvious in a green field, as if it was deliberately seen and let people enter.Probably, as long as you go in, you can figure out what happened, right?

The young man's bright smile was also fleeting, and then changed into that indifferent and silent expression. He nodded slightly, and then followed Kirito's intentionally slow pace to the wooden house.

Kirito frowned slightly, standing in front of the young man, his dark gray eyes focused on the plain wooden door on the wooden house, holding a sword in his right hand, and vigilantly approaching the wooden door with his left hand to open it.

Just at that moment, the door suddenly shone brightly, and the dark brown rough wooden door became transparent and smooth.Like a transmissive mirror, it emits a faint fluorescence, and two small figures can be vaguely seen from the mirror.

Kirito's eyes tightened in an instant, and he looked in surprise at the figure slowly emerging from the mirror, and a name flashed into his mind instantly.Tongren suddenly turned around to look at the purple-haired and purple-eyed boy behind him, and opened his mouth slightly, the name was about to be blurted out.

But before he could say it, the mirror cast a more serious gaze, and before Kirito could react, he sucked Kirito into the mirror, and then the light of the mirror suddenly disappeared.

It was still the rough and ordinary wooden door, but there was only a young boy standing in front of the wooden door.

The young man remained expressionless, but turned his head and looked far away, not knowing what he was looking at.

It took a long time before the boy stretched out his hand and slowly pushed open the wooden door.

There is a person standing inside the wooden door, with short black hair, a bright red headband on his head, a lake blue upper body and a light yellow long skirt, and that person's face is delicate, fair and delicate, if he doesn't know that he is Kirito , I'm afraid I really thought it was a girl.

Kirito stood there, looking at the boy blankly, as if he was a stranger meeting him for the first time.

"You..." Kirito raised his hand, wanting to say something, but his memory was blank, "Who are you?"

It should be remembered, obviously it feels very familiar, but I can't remember anything, as if a section of the tape was deliberately blank, but the blank section will still be there.

Not a blank space, but a total blank space.Kirito looked around blankly, then raised his hands in confusion, looked at his fingers, but still couldn't remember anything.

In the end, he could only ask the only purple-haired boy in front of him with a trembling voice——

"Why, I don't remember anything..."

The author has something to say: let’s start school