Chapter 18: The Dogman

In a game akin to a lawless zone, a beautiful but isolated girl like Asuna naturally needed to learn self-protection, and being cautious toward others was perfectly normal.

But over these two days, Shengzai and Kirito had earned Asuna’s trust through various actions.

And after just two days, Asuna felt she had grown more than she had in an entire month before.

Now that she had grown significantly, she possessed a degree of self-defense capability, and with two even more powerful teammates beside her, her previous pretense was no longer necessary.

Diabel, upon seeing Asuna, clearly found her strikingly beautiful, but seeing her standing beside Shengzai, he merely smiled back and said nothing more.

The utterly ordinary Kirito was once again selectively ignored, causing him to grumble: “If looks could kill, I’d probably have been slain a hundred times by now.”

One is a rare super-beauty in the game, the other is the famed ‘Saint’.

All other players must surely be wondering why a guy like me, so plain and unremarkable, ended up in this team.”

Hearing Kirito’s grumble, Shengzai glanced around, then playfully slapped Kirito’s shoulder: “Actually, it’s not entirely true—there are people paying attention to you, Kirito. Look over there—someone’s been staring at you nonstop.”

At Shengzai’s words, Kirito’s face had been full of excitement, but the moment he saw who was staring at him, his expression instantly fell.

The reason was simple: the person staring at him was none other than Yawang, who had stirred up conflict among the group just days ago.

Logically, the one who had argued with Yawang and humiliated him just days ago should have been Shengzai.

Even if he held a grudge, he should have been glaring at Shengzai, not you.

Why is he fixated on Kirito? Shengzai figured this must be what’s called true love.

After the Gonglvezu assembled, under Diabel’s leadership, they rapidly advanced toward the boss room with astonishing speed.

All players present were high-level veterans, and Diabel’s commands were indeed remarkably accurate.

Thus, the group reached the so-called boss room in less than an hour.

Their nearly flawless battle progress boosted morale and significantly raised Diabel’s reputation.

The floor boss of the first level was named Dogman Lord Irfang, a massive dogman standing two to three meters tall.

It wielded a bone axe and a leather round shield, with a health bar totaling four segments.

Beside it stood three elite monsters—‘Ruins Dogman Guards’—wearing heavy metal armor and wielding axe-spears.

Though labeled elite monsters, as floor boss elites, their levels and stats were no weaker than those of wild-area bosses.

Diabel divided the forty-person Gonglvezu into two teams: one to handle the Dogman Lord, the other to deal with the Dogman Guards.

The team assigned to the Dogman Guards was further split into three squads; Shengzai’s group was tasked with one of the Dogman Guards.

Diabel wanted to gain reputation, so he had to take on the Dogman Lord himself; and if Shengzai remembered correctly, this guy was also a beta tester who knew about the special reward mechanism for the final blow.

As the ‘Saint,’ Shengzai already had immense reputation among players; if he were to defeat the Dogman Lord, Diabel’s position as leader would become extremely awkward.

That’s why the three of them were assigned to fight the Dogman Guards.

The Dogman Guards, as elite monsters, had far less health than the floor boss, so all three were quickly defeated under the group’s combined assault.

According to intel, when the Dogman Lord’s health dropped to critical, he would discard his axe and shield and draw a curved blade.

At the very moment the Dogman Lord discarded his weapons, Diabel, the commander, immediately shouted for everyone to stop attacking, then stepped forward alone with his weapon.

“So this guy really organizes floor boss raids not just for reputation—he’s after the special reward.”

Seeing the boss at low health, Diabel ordered everyone back and advanced alone—most probably had no idea what he intended to do.

But for Shengzai’s group, who had already slain wild-area bosses, the blue-haired man’s intent was crystal clear.

“Shengzai, something’s wrong—he’s not drawing the curved blade from the intel, he’s drawing a nodachi!”

Stop Diabel—he’s going to get killed!”

As a beta tester, Kirito knew the Dogman Lord’s final weapon during its berserk state was a curved blade.

Now that it had switched to a nodachi, it confirmed Shengzai’s earlier suspicion: the monster’s mechanics had changed!

The attack range of a curved blade and a nodachi were completely different; if they followed the old beta tactics, Diabel would definitely die.

Kirito wanted to intervene, but just as he prepared to act, the Dogman Lord summoned three more Dogman Guards, blocking his path.

Shengzai was closer to Diabel, so to save him, he could only call out to his buddy.

“Tch, you really love meddling in other people’s business.”

Honestly, Shengzai had little affection for the blue-haired guy—he was greedy and reckless; if he got killed, it was his own fault.

Had Kirito not spoken up, Shengzai would’ve almost certainly stood by and done nothing.

But now that Kirito had shouted so loudly, if he pretended to be dead, it would ruin his SAO persona.

After all, he planned to start a guild later—if he let someone die, his reputation would be destroyed.

The Dogman Lord, now wielding the nodachi and in berserk state, moved with astonishing speed, and its movement pattern differed entirely from the beta version.

It leaped high into the air, dodging Diabel’s attack, then kicked off a nearby stone pillar and slashed at Diabel.

As the nodachi sent Diabel flying, the Dogman Lord stomped the ground, leaving a deep crater—about to deliver a final blow to finish off the blue-haired man—when a figure suddenly dashed between them.

“Weapon Block!”

The nodachi clashed with Shengzai’s Wind-Flower Sword, sending a shower of sparks flying.

As Shengzai was thrown backward, his other hand grabbed Diabel behind him and hurled him toward Yawang.

Diabel’s health was already at its limit; even the impact from the blow could kill him outright.

“Asuna, switch!”

(End of Chapter)