Chapter 94: Walking with Kirito

Leaving the tavern, Lingyun headed straight out of the Starting Town. He figured that little girl Argo must be throwing a fit right now, so it was best not to go and provoke her.

Thinking of this, Lingyun took out that Gold Crystal. The information displayed on the crystal was very simple.

Mysterious Crystal: A crystal formed by some unknown power; after it is shattered, it can be used to strengthen weapons. Strengthened weapons possess a certain deterrent effect against Nether-attribute monsters and can inflict higher damage.

Needless to say, this thing must be a crystallization of power left behind by those unknown forces, intended to assist players in resisting Berserk Monsters.

"Is this the way the two sides have chosen to confront each other? One side chooses players, the other chooses monsters?" A dark glint flashed in Lingyun's eyes. "Forget it, why think about such nonsense now? Better to go collect materials for strengthening weapons."

Shaking his head, Lingyun opened his map and began to check which places could produce the materials he needed. Although the materials dropped by the pangolins could be used to forge armor, they were not good materials for strengthening weapons. Because he shared the map with Luo Yexi and the others, the map Lingyun could see was much larger, and a lot of useful information was marked on it.

"Hmm, I'll choose this place." Lingyun's gaze fell upon a Stone Forest. In this Stone Forest, there was a very special type of metal monster. After this monster was killed, it had a certain probability of dropping a Metal Core. This metal could not only be used to forge weapons, but it was also a good material for strengthening weapons.

"This is the place." Lingyun arrived in front of a Stone Forest. Appearing before his eyes were monsters that looked somewhat similar to crabs; these monsters were called Metal-Eating Crabs. Regarding this, Lingyun was already at a loss for words. Who could tell him why the monsters in this Stone Forest were crabs? Could this species be so formidable that it reached this point, even though there wasn't a drop of water here?

"Why are there crabs in this place?" A somewhat surprised voice rang out behind Lingyun.

Hearing this somewhat familiar voice, Lingyun couldn't help but look back. A female Swordsman in black was walking in this direction; it was actually Kirito, whom he had met before.

"Lingyun, why are you here?" Seeing Lingyun, Kirito was also very surprised. One had to know, this place was somewhere she had spent 1,000 Col to find out could drop high-level weapons; why would Lingyun know about this place?

"The monsters in this place can drop a material used to strengthen weapons, and I need this stuff right now." Lingyun spread his hands.

"So that's how it is. Why don't we do this together? I also need the things that drop from these monsters," Kirito said with a smile.

"Alright!" Lingyun nodded. "But you have to be careful; the monsters here are not simple monsters."

Upon hearing this, Kirito looked toward the crabs in the Stone Forest. Among the red markers of these crabs, a hint of grayish-white had appeared. A look of caution appeared on Kirito's face; she had fought against this type of Berserk Monster before, so she naturally understood the power of these monsters.

Slowly drawing the Long sword from her back, Kirito's gaze became sharp, and a faint aura spread out from her body. Lingyun was very familiar with this aura; it was the unique aura of a master of the sword. Compared to Leafa, who was by Busujima Saeko's side earlier, Kirito's aura was significantly stronger.

"Let's go!" Kirito gave a delicate shout and charged forward first. A faint light shimmered on the Long sword in her hand as she slashed heavily at a Metal-Eating Crab; it was the Sword Skill unique to this world.

With a "Clang," sparks flew in all directions. Kirito's expression changed slightly; the Metal-Eating Crab's shell was simply too hard, and her weapon could not inflict much damage on it. Suddenly attacked, the Metal-Eating Crab was also caught off guard, but it reacted quickly, and a large pincer snapped rapidly toward Kirito. Unfortunately, Kirito was currently in the post-Sword Skill cooldown, unable to defend.

Just as the crab pincer was about to touch Kirito, another Long sword suddenly thrust out from the side, tapping against the pincer. Although it looked like a light tap, the Metal-Eating Crab's pincer was knocked aside as if it had suffered a heavy blow. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kirito recovered from the cooldown and retreated out of the Metal-Eating Crab's attack range.

"Be careful!" Lingyun warned, striding toward the Metal-Eating Crab.

The Metal-Eating Crab held its pincer high and brought it down heavily toward Lingyun. Lingyun tilted his body slightly, thrusting the Long sword in his hand forward to pierce a white area on the Metal-Eating Crab's body. The Metal-Eating Crab's body paused, and the health bar above its head slid down a small segment.

"Is that place its weak point?" Kirito narrowed her eyes.

Having succeeded with one strike, Lingyun retreated rapidly, simultaneously avoiding the attack. In the moment the Metal-Eating Crab paused after attacking, Lingyun closed in again to land a heavy blow on it, and as the Metal-Eating Crab attacked, Lingyun retreated again to avoid its strike.

Lingyun's series of attacks were as smooth as flowing water. In Kirito's eyes, every one of Lingyun's dodges avoided the Metal-Eating Crab's attacks perfectly. This was the part that surprised her the most; this kind of dodging was not something an ordinary person could achieve. Moreover, she discovered something that astonished her: from beginning to end, Lingyun had not used a single Sword Skill, yet the speed at which the Metal-Eating Crab's health dropped was not slow at all.

Watching Lingyun quickly take down a Metal-Eating Crab, Kirito's competitive spirit was ignited, and she gripped the Long sword in her hand and charged toward another Metal-Eating Crab. Although the Sword Skills in SAO had the drawback of a brief physical cooldown after use, Kirito, as a veteran player of this game, naturally had her own way of solving it.

A direct thrust hit the Metal-Eating Crab's body. Under the powerful impact of the thrust, the Metal-Eating Crab's body couldn't help but sway, losing its balance. By the time the Metal-Eating Crab regained its balance, Kirito had already passed the physical cooldown time, and another Sword Skill caused the Metal-Eating Crab to lose its balance once more.

Under this series of continuous strikes, the Metal-Eating Crab's health bar dropped rapidly. Before long, this Metal-Eating Crab shattered into fragments filling the sky.

After defeating a Metal-Eating Crab, Kirito looked into the Stone Forest. The Metal-Eating Crabs in the Stone Forest had already been alerted and were rapidly swarming toward their direction.

"Let's work together. You can use your Sword Skills to your heart's content; I guarantee that while you are in your cooldown, not a single one of these crabs will be able to hurt you. We need to be quick; if we get surrounded, we'll be in big trouble." Lingyun looked toward Kirito.

"Alright, let's do it together." Kirito nodded slightly and assumed the starting stance for a Sword Skill. Her intuition told her that the person in front of her could be trusted.

Lingyun took a step forward first, meeting the Metal-Eating Crab charging at the very front. Behind him, a faint light shimmered on Kirito's sword; an intense battle was about to begin.