Chapter 72: Are the Hosts of Spirit Summoners All Weak?

Although they knew Shengzai’s unique skill was to command a elite-level flame great tiger, under the four-against-one situation, Kratil and the others still felt certain of victory.

But seeing Shengzai now surrounded by the Golden Dragon, Kratil and the others immediately frowned.

Clearly, the misinformation had made their earlier “dragon-on-face” advantage now seem uncertain.

“Hmph, it’s just a tiger turned into a dragon. Though his unique skill differs from what we previously knew.

But you all just saw this Golden Dragon—it has no ability to instantly kill us, and monster AI is low. With caution, it’s nothing special.

You ‘Coffin of Smiles’ are the organization that terrified players in SAO, and you even took a large deposit from me. You’re not backing down now, are you?”

Watching the slight unease on the Coffin of Smiles members’ faces, Kratil now spoke bluntly, stoking their anger.

To kill Shengzai, he’d spent every last coin he had—if he failed to eliminate Shengzai here, Kratil was finished.

The ‘Coffin of Smiles’ is a red-name guild hated by all; the barefoot fear nothing. But Kratil is not barefoot.

He is a member of the Blood Alliance Knights, a well-known player from the strategy group.

If this assassination fails, the Coffin of Smiles members can walk away, but Kratil cannot.

If word of this gets out, his reputation will be ruined instantly, and he’ll face Shengzai’s relentless pursuit forever.

Worse still, Asuna might come to hate him—or even want to kill him. For Kratil, that was utterly unacceptable!

“We of the ‘Coffin of Smiles’ don’t need you to teach us how to act. Since we accepted the contract, we will kill him!”

“Ken, Apple, you two handle the Golden Dragon he summoned. Myself and Kratil will kill the ‘Saint’ as fast as possible!”

All beast tamers share a clear weakness: their own strength is weaker than the monstrous familiars they command.

Even though Shengzai’s unique skill lets his spirit beasts rival ordinary bosses in power,

splitting two of us to distract the Golden Dragon should be more than enough.

As for our strongest member—myself—plus Kratil, can’t we two kill a beast tamer without any summoned monster?

After analyzing the current situation, the strongest of the Coffin of Smiles trio, Shadow, subtly curled his lips beneath his cloak, revealing a cruel smile.

“No more wasting time. Everyone attack at once. He’s still a top-tier player in SAO—who knows what other hidden tricks he has?”

Hearing Shadow’s order, his companions Ken and Apple no longer hesitated—they immediately lured away the Golden Dragon Shengzai summoned.

As for Kratil, he drew his one-handed sword and charged toward Shengzai alongside Shadow, attacking from both sides.

“Angry Thrust—!”

Seeing Shengzai’s confident, sunny face, Kratil involuntarily pictured his goddess held in the man’s arms—and now, he lunged forward with furious intent.

The Angry Thrust was a fairly advanced skill in SAO. Now, Kratil’s longsword, bathed in blue light, shot toward Shengzai’s face like a streak of lightning.

Yet facing this swift strike, Shengzai merely tilted his head slightly. As the sword’s wind whistled past his ear, he effortlessly dodged.

After dodging Kratil’s blow, Shengzai seized the moment—while Kratil was still locked in skill animation—grabbed the hilt of his waist sword and drew it in one swift slash!

A crescent-shaped blue light exploded through the air. The next second, Kratil saw his own hand—still gripping the longsword—detached from his body and flying past his face.

SAO was a full-dive game, but its pain system could be adjusted, and most players set it to the lowest level.

After all, the sensation of being torn apart by monsters, if perfectly replicated, would be too excruciating.

Kratil’s pain system was also off, so though his arm was severed, he felt no pain.

But feeling no pain didn’t mean he wasn’t injured.

Seeing his HP rapidly drain after his arm was cut off by Shengzai’s sword, Kratil’s earlier arrogant expression slowly gave way to fear.

As Shengzai paused, surprised that Kratil’s HP was thicker than expected—he hadn’t killed him with one strike—and was about to strike again, Shadow suddenly appeared behind him.

At the same moment he appeared, Shadow held a poisoned dagger, thrusting it straight at Shengzai’s temple!

The human brain is a vital point. With power shared across worlds, Shengzai’s physical strength far exceeded normal humans—but this was a game world, where all stats were determined by numbers.

No… even in reality, with his current physical capabilities, he couldn’t survive a blade to the head, let alone one coated in lethal poison.

The sudden attack forced Shengzai to abandon finishing Kratil and instead used a “Iron Plank Bridge” to evade Shadow’s assassination.

As his body bent backward, Shengzai braced his hand on the ground and kicked upward in a spiraling motion, aiming straight for Shadow’s chin.

This powerful upward kick sent the stunned Shadow flying several meters into the air.

In the real world, Shengzai was certain—just this one kick would have killed Shadow multiple times over.

After absorbing power from the “Tokyo Ghoul World” and the “Jujutsu Kaisen World,” Shengzai’s physical attributes were, strictly speaking, superhuman.

That kick alone would have shattered the jawbone of any normal human.

But again—this was SAO. Physical martial arts damage existed, but it was far weaker than damage from swords or weapons.

Though Shadow flying several meters into the air looked impressive, the actual damage was minimal.

Of course, in the later UnderWorld, things would be different.

After all, two years later, UnderWorld’s dive technology was vastly superior to SAO’s, even perfectly replicating players’ physical stats and combat skills within the game.

Seeing his HP reduced and Shengzai charging after him with sword drawn, Shadow no longer hesitated—he pulled out his trump card, and his figure slowly faded and vanished into the air.

(End of Chapter)