My SAO adventure is wrong, as expected

Chapter 52: The Disappearance of the Two

One late night, Asuna anxiously contacted Hachiman, and following Asuna's instructions, he first rushed to Lizbeth's weapon shop.

When he pushed open the door of Lizbeth's weapon shop at the stroke of three in the morning, Asuna was pacing back and forth in front of the forge with her arms crossed.

The metallic tapping of her heels on the floor betrayed her agitation. 'It's probably because of that incident... but her level of panic is unusually high.'

Seeing Hachiman, Asuna hurriedly ran over. "Hachiman-kun, Lizbeth seems to be trapped in a special area of some labyrinth. We've completely lost contact! We can't even trace her location."

"A special area?" He opened his friend list; Lizbeth's icon had turned gray-black, and Kirito's status was the same. "Looks like a hidden mechanism has been triggered."

He tried hard to recall details of the quest but couldn't remember anything about a labyrinth.

"Hmm, since messages can't be sent out, I guess they might be inside a special labyrinth." "There shouldn't be any labyrinth nearby." "Do you know Lizbeth's location?" "Yes. Kirito is also out of contact, right? I'm guessing they're together." Hachiman leaned against the doorframe and rubbed his throbbing temples. "What's going on?"

Hachiman cleverly avoided the topic of dual-wielding and explained that Kirito might have asked Lizbeth to forge a weapon and mentioned the crystal ingot the day before.

"I see, so they're on the 55th floor, right?" "That's right, but there shouldn't be any labyrinth around there." "What do we do now?" "If Kirito's with her, it should be fine." "Although the combat difficulty on the 55th floor isn't high, let's still confirm their location with tracking mode." "Okay."

Asuna tracked Lizbeth's footsteps while Hachiman tracked Kirito's. It turned out their movement paths were completely identical.

The tracking path for the crystal flickered intermittently through the snowstorm.

When the two finally approached the mountain peak, Asuna's silver-white armor was covered in ice spikes, and Hachiman's leather boots were frozen solid, stuck to the ground.

They followed the broken trail to the edge of a cliff, where they saw only an ice pillar, half-chipped by claws.

"So the two definitely went up the mountain." "Yeah, let's keep tracking."

After fending off several waves of snow wolves and snowman-type monsters along the way, they reached what seemed to be the summit.

"Lizbeth's footprints disappear near this ice pillar." "Kirito's too... Hey Asuna, come take a look at this." "What did you find?" "It seems like they jumped down from this hole." "Huh?!" "Should we go down and check?" Asuna loosened the floral scarf around her neck but noticed Hachiman staring at a certain spot on the cliff's edge.

Following his gaze, they saw two parallel slide marks tracing a strange curve on the ice surface, with one edge bearing a familiar sword scratch. Hachiman traced the groove with his fingertip. "Looks like our black-cloaked swordsman staged a hero rescue scene. There are traces of sliding at the cliff edge, probably Lizbeth was blown off by something like dragon's breath, and Kirito jumped down to save her." "Is it okay to fall from such a height?" "Well, since they're still alive, it should be fine."

Hachiman leaned over to look down into the abyss but could see no bottom.

Just as Asuna was about to speak, the ground beneath them suddenly trembled violently. Hachiman reflexively grabbed her wrist and jumped backward just as the spot they had been standing on collapsed into a three-meter-wide ice pit.

Cold air and debris rose from the depths.

"This depth..." Asuna leaned forward, her loose hair instantly covered with ice crystals. "We'll need at least a 200-meter steel rope." "Then let's head back first. We'll regroup once the NPC shop opens. But can such a long rope be connected?" "No choice. Let's consult Argo first. That's it for today." "Hmm... Lizbeth, Kirito-kun, wait for us."

Asuna looked back anxiously but agreed to descend.

By the time they returned to town, dawn was near. They contacted Argo but got a reply only hours later since it was too early.

Just as they were preparing the rope, Lizbeth and Kirito suddenly re-established contact.

Learning that the two were returning to the weapon shop, Hachiman and Asuna thanked Argo and rushed to the 48th floor. Before the teleportation light had even faded, Asuna threw herself into Lizbeth's arms.

Hachiman leaned against the doorframe, his gaze shifting between the blacksmith girl's flushed cheeks and Kirito.

In the dancing firelight of the forge, a subtle atmosphere was brewing.

"Lizbeth~ I was so worried about you~" As Asuna hugged Lizbeth, the blacksmith comforted her friend but kept glancing over at Kirito. 'Hmm? Is Lizbeth looking at... Kirito? Oh well, whatever.'

Hachiman decided to ask Kirito for details first. "So you found the crystal vein in the deepest part of the dragon's lair?" He deliberately emphasized "deepest part," enjoying the sight of Lizbeth's ears twitching. "Y-Yeah!" The girl nervously held up a silver-white ingot. "A very high-purity material! Kirito actually used the Interpretive Sword as an ice pick..." And that thing was actually white dragon droppings... "Ah... It's embarrassing to hear it said so bluntly..." "And it was hidden at the bottom of the cave. No wonder no one found it." "Finding it was really lucky, thanks to Lizbeth being blown off." 'Lizbeth? They became this close overnight?'

Lizbeth's pink short hair fluttered lightly in the breeze. She suddenly poked Hachiman's arm with her index finger. "Wait, Hachiman and Kirito have known each other for a long time?" 'Oh, she also calls him Kirito now...' "Yeah, I've known Kirito longer than you. We're old partners." Hachiman yawned while leaning on the weapon rack, his eyes scanning Kirito's black sword at his waist. "But you two— even though you attended the same boss raid meeting, only just got formally introduced?"

Lizbeth suddenly slammed her hammer heavily onto the anvil, the metallic ring startling Kirito who shrank his neck. "Wait! You mean that weird swordsman who always wears a black cloak is...?" "You know him?"

Clang — Kirito suddenly drew out the Elucidor. The jet-black blade reflected dark red patterns in the firelight.

Asuna's slender sword drew halfway, then relaxed once she saw his actions.

Hachiman helplessly rubbed his forehead: "Don't just draw your sword in someone's shop, you know." "Sorry, sorry." Kirito laughed awkwardly as he sheathed his sword. "But Lizbeth's probably talking about me. After all, I'm the only one who dresses like that in the entire raid group..."

Lizbeth suddenly rushed up to Hachiman, her nose almost touching the leather armor on his chest. "Hachiman, you bastard, why didn't you say so earlier!" Hachiman calmly pried apart the blacksmith's hand clutching his collar: "At that time, someone was crying their eyes out holding a freshly made dragon bone gauntlet, saying it would definitely sell for 200,000 Col..." "Hachiman—!"

Watching Lizbeth chasing Hachiman around the room in a rage, Asuna smiled wryly and pressed down the trembling sword at her waist.