Abyss of the Shrine Maiden

Dashing To The Mysterious NPC

Asuna sighs in half-relief. “That’s something, though…”

“Yeah. It doesn’t make this situation any less worrisome, though.”

Leafa agrees with her brother. “We just have to make sure we’re there to protect her if it happens again.”

Asuna nods. “Right. And you let Yui and the others know the moment you start feeling unwell, Premiere.”

“I will. Thank you for your concern.”

Klein grins and flashes a thumbs up. “Nothing bad’ll happen to you so long as we’re around, Premiere!”

Silica’s voice is the next thing they hear from the other side. “Still, what she said about all those ‘sad, lonely thoughts’ is concerning.”

“Well, Yui and Strea both said that it's different from the flood of negative emotions they experienced in SAO.”

“But they ARE someone else’s thoughts… So I can’t help wondering, whose?”

“Whew, that was close! That monster rushed us just as we got into the room!” Koharu looks towards a pair of players coming from deeper in the mountain. It seems others rushed in as soon as the third Extractor was activated.

“We never would've been able to escape it if we'd been on our own. Let’s call up the rest of the guys and give it another shot later.”

“Yeah. I feel bad for that girl that came in after us, all by herself. She probably got thrashed.”

“What? There was someone else there?”

“She was kind of strange. She had this hood on and a mask… Didn’t you see her?”

“Dude, that must have been that rare mob everyone’s talking about! C’mon, we gotta go get the others, quick!”

“H-Hey, wait up!”

Koharu turns to her companions, both present and on the call. “...You all heard that?”

“It’s gotta be that masked NPC.”

“They mentioned something about her going into a room by herself? One where monsters attack you as soon as you get there?”

“That, and they were talking like they wanted to go after the masked NPC!”

“That’s right. Sinon and I heard around town about some stupid ‘info’ going around about that ‘rare mob’ who drops a rare item if you beat it. That poor masked NPC just can’t catch a break, can she?”

Kirito nods. “Yeah… Speaking of which, where is Jaymes? I haven’t heard him the entire time.” Silence lingers on the other side, so long that it fills Koharu with worry. Doing a quick check on her friends list, she sees he’s still online, yet the quietness lingers until Lisbeth speaks up.

“He’s been gone for a while. Strea just left herself. I guess to find him herself or something.”

Kirito looks at Koharu, seeing her worry. “Well, he might be heading up, though he could instantly come to the same region we’re in through the friends list.”