My SAO adventure is wrong, as expected

Chapter 69: The Four Heavenly Kings of the Strategy Group?

"By the way, who is this little girl?"

Uriel seemed to have been curious about Yui all along and finally couldn't hold back from asking.

She stared at the girl's long hair, her gaze shifting back and forth among the three people — Yui, dressed in a pure white dress, was standing on tiptoe, trying to pin a freshly picked wildflower onto Hachiman's messy hedgehog-like hair.

"This child is my and Hachiman's daughter, Yui." "D-daughter...?" There was a three-second silence.

That answer clearly exceeded Uriel's understanding.

But it was no wonder — from her physique, it was hard to believe she was their biological daughter, and it's impossible to have children in SAO.

As if to prove her suspicion, Yui was tugging on Hachiman's shirt corner, trying to swing herself like on a swing, while the man, known as the "Demon of the Strategy Group," awkwardly adjusted his posture to prevent the child from falling.

Asuna, like a magician, pulled out a honey cake and gently coaxed, "Want some snacks?"

"Is she an adopted daughter then?" Uriel suddenly felt a sourness in her gums; this display of intense familial affection was even more dazzling than a flash grenade.

"Well... that's a long story."

"I see... Everyone has their own story. But isn't it too dangerous to bring her to a place like this?"

"No worries, I'll protect her." "That's how it is. Unless a particularly strong enemy appears, the fighting is basically handled easily by Kirito and me."

Upon hearing this, Uriel's eyes lit up: "I never thought I'd get to see the Four Heavenly Kings fight in person!"

"From the aura around, there won't be strong enemies for now. The battle should end instantly — maybe not much to see."

"Even so, please let me watch!"

"Then suit yourself, watch as much as you want."

"Please take care of me!"

She was about to say more when at the edge of her vision, several ink-green spots suddenly flickered.

"Enemy attack!"

Before the words fell, three poison dart frogs, each the size of a truck tire, leapt out of the swamp. Their sticky poison sprayed midair as two dark shadows already crossed paths — Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hachiman's short blade carved a crescent arc; Kirito's Elucidor burst with blue sword light. Uriel hadn't even taken a battle stance before three monster corpses turned into polygonal fragments and disappeared.

In reality, these frog monsters eliminated casually by the two were roughly level sixty minions, easily killed with a single strike.

But to Uriel, they were formidable foes.

Witnessing their swift kill made her more certain the title of Four Heavenly Kings was well deserved.

However, the two now faced another problem.

"Hey Kirito, your inventory's almost full, right?"

"Yeah, these guys always drop meat. We need to pause the battle and sort items."

"Throwing them away is such a waste. Let's ask Asuna if she can cook with them first."

"Good idea."

Facing the ugly frog monsters, Asuna was initially fearless, but when Hachiman handed her the dropped frog meat:

"Asuna, can you cook with this?"

"Huh? What's this?"

"The frog meat we just farmed."

"Look, there's a bunch."

Kirito showed her the big pile of frog meat he was holding.

"Eek—!"

Asuna instantly turned pale and screamed.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Hachiman hurriedly asked:

"Sorry! I asked because you looked calm in battle, didn't expect you'd be scared of this."

"Fighting and eating are totally different! Just imagining it makes me want to throw up..."

Hachiman immediately turned hostile:

"That's right, Kirito! Fighting and eating aren't the same, don't you get it?"

"..."

Kirito stared dumbfounded as Hachiman began wildly throwing away the frog meat, even clearing his own inventory.

After finishing, he rushed to comfort his wife:

"Good girl, all the disgusting meat is gone now, don't be scared."

"Mm... thank you, Hachiman."

Calm again, Asuna hugged her husband, while Yui happily said:

"Mom and Dad get along so well!"

"Yui, you, and the three of us will always love each other."

"Yes, Yui."

"Daddy! Mommy!"

Yui happily jumped into their arms.

Kirito and Uriel looked on and sighed.

"I never imagined those two would become such silly lovebirds..."

"If you only heard the rumors from the front lines, you wouldn't picture this at all... Though this has only been recent."

"T-top players getting along well is a good thing!"

"True, but the contrast is too..."

"I'm so jealous... I wish Sir Thinker and I could be like that..."

Uriel muttered while looking at the trio.

"Uriel, you like Thinker?"

"Huh? Did I say that out loud? Well... yes..."

"Go for it! By the way, Kirito, do you have anyone you care about?"

"I want to repay the person who gave me strength, but I'm not sure if it's love."

Kirito, staring at the dark sword on his left hand, didn't notice Uriel silently praying for his happiness.

"Let's move on."

"Yes! Sir Thinker should be just ahead."

After checking the map, the light point representing Thinker was almost within reach.

"Uriel, what kind of person is Thinker?"

"Very gentle. I heard he was a large MMO strategy site admin before being trapped here."

"Thinker, admin of MMO Today?!"

"You know him, Kirito?"

"A top strategy group celebrity, exchanged emails a few times. So he's here too..."

While chatting, the battle continued. After clearing monsters, Hachiman suddenly asked:

"Uriel, isn't it tough coming here alone?"

"Alone would be impossible now. The army is weak. Even gathering elites requires two squads to get here."

"The army knew about this place before?"

"Thinker's faction discovered it by chance and wanted to monopolize it, but gave up because enemies were too strong."

"Thinker's location is quite deep. How did you find him?"

"Scouts pushed deep to set corridor crystal coordinates... Ah! Someone's over there!"

Uriel ran toward the figure in the distance. Suddenly, Yui warned:

"Daddy! There's something scary!"

"Oh no! Uriel, come back!"

Almost simultaneously, twisted black shadows emerged from thick fog. A three-story tall scythe sliced through the mist; its blade wrapped in blood-red data turbulence.

The giant scythe looming in the shadow was already swinging toward Uriel's back.

"Duck!"

At the last moment, the scythe grazed just over Uriel's head as she lay flat. Hachiman and Kirito counterattacked and evacuated her.

"Did you see it clearly, Kirito?"

"Reaper type, full black cursor, probably level ninety."

"Retreat to the safe zone first. We'll lure the enemy away; you take Thinker and leave."

Asuna escorted the two away, but suddenly something changed — the Reaper slipped into the shadows and emerged from behind Hachiman swinging its scythe.

"Behind you!"

Asuna dove and pushed Hachiman away; the scythe struck deep into the ground.

After narrowly dodging the boss's attack, Kirito tried to help the two fallen.

Just then, the boss turned to face them, swinging the scythe again.