Chapter 105: The Strategy to Annihilate the Enemy
"Uooooooohhhhhhh!"
"Oooooooohhhhhhh!"
Although Hachiman and Kirito were shouting loudly, they were still happily gliding through the air.
"You two are quite skilled."
"It's like riding a roller coaster."
"This exhilaration is amazing!"
"Hehe, luckily neither of you are afraid of heights. Ah, it's about time to prepare for landing."
"Alright!"
"Got it."
The three gradually slowed down and landed smoothly.
"Even your landing was nicely done. Ordinary people would be flailing about."
"Well, whether it's flying or landing, it's no problem at all."
"Yeah, feels like we could just keep flying without issue."
"You two adapted really quickly... Ah! Come to think of it, you've both been through quite a bit before, so I guess it's not that surprising."
"Ah, yeah... something like that. Just revisiting old memories."
"Y-Yeah, exactly."
"I see."
Since they hadn't yet decided whether to reveal the truth to Leafa, the two of them chose to play along for the time being.
Then, the three of them sat in a circle and resumed discussing their earlier topic.
"Hey Leafa, hypothetically, if you were to attack Yukino's group under the current circumstances, how would you go about it?"
"Hmm... Just relying on the Sylphs alone wouldn't be possible. Feels like no one would follow the order."
"Because of what happened when she got her title?"
"Yeah, it's a well-known story among the Sylphs and Cait Siths. If they heard we were going to attack Yukino, everyone would probably refuse."
"Then the most likely scenario is secretly passing intel to the Cait Siths?"
"If an attack were to happen, there's no other method really... Though I hate thinking that badly of Sigurd..."
Leafa said this somewhat painfully, recalling pleasant memories from past team events with him.
"But this is probably the real battlefield."
"You mean, we're the actual target?"
"That's right.
Hachiman closed his eyes to organize his thoughts. Leafa watched him with interest. Kirito looked relaxed, clearly used to this process.
"Hey, Kirito-kun, is it always like this? Hachiman-kun taking the strategist role?"
"More or less. Ah, but it's not because I don't want to think. It's just that Hachiman is so reliable, there's rarely a need for me to use my brain."
"I see."
"By the way, Hachiman's also really strong in battle. Of course, I won't lose either."
"Yeah, from the last battle I already got a good grasp of your strength. With the two of you teaming up, I almost feel sorry for the attackers."
"Now that we also have Leafa, and once we meet up with Yukino's team, we'll be practically invincible, right?"
"Yeah. Without knowing how many enemies there are, this is the best course."
Hachiman suddenly opened his eyes and said:
"Oh, you're done thinking already? That was fast."
"This situation isn't very complicated."
"So what's the plan?"
"We intentionally leak information to Sigurd to manipulate the situation, then use the opportunity to regroup with Yukino and wipe out the enemy."
"Simple and clear. I like it."
"Leafa, what's the most suitable place for a rendezvous on this side of the corridor?"
"That would still be Lúgulu Town."
"How long does it take for Yukino's team to get to Lúgulu Town from the other side?"
"About two hours, I think."
"I see. Then can you contact Yukino to adjust the rotation schedule? I'll log out and call her
Finding out where we plan to meet up with Yukino and taking us out before that would be the logical strategy."
"Yeah, that does seem more realistic."
"You think so too, Leafa?"
"Yeah.
If I were them, there might be people in the Sylphs who'd join. Like the ones I beat in the martial arts tournament—they could just cover their faces and no one would know it was them."
"So you mean, because you're not as feared as Yukino, you're a more 'doable' target?"
"Pretty much."
"There's also the possibility of a two-pronged attack—Cait Siths handling Yukino's side, Sylphs handling ours. Or both at once."
"Yeah, that could happen."
"Then let's work under that assumption."
"Okay."
directly to explain."
"That'd definitely be faster. One sec."
"Thanks. I'll stand by in the meantime."
"Got it."
After Hachiman logged out, Leafa quickly messaged Yukino. After talking to her teammates, Yukino immediately logged out and called Hachiman.
"Yo. Sorry for the trouble, but something's come up."
"No worries. What happened?"
"Well actually..."
Hachiman explained what had happened in as much detail as possible.
"I see... That man, huh."
"You know Sigurd?"
"I was invited to team up with him before. Naturally, I refused."
"Because you already had a stable party?"
"Yeah. Anything suspicious about him?"
"He was clearly trying to boost his reputation using my name."
"Knew it. One of those guys."
"If it's him, I wouldn't be surprised if he used this as a chance to eliminate us too."
"Any evidence?"
"I turned him down publicly and didn't hold back at all."
"Oof…"
"Not to mention, he was the one who confidently came up to me in a public setting."
"Totally brought it on himself..."
"So yeah, he definitely holds a grudge."
"Got it. So, on to business. Since we don't know the enemy numbers, I want to meet up at Lúgulu Town in advance and counterattack. What do you think?"
"Sounds good to me."
Yukino agreed immediately.
"Our team's weakness is the lack of frontliners, and your team has strong tanks. Once we meet up, even if they outnumber us two to one, we can wipe them out."
"If that's double, then we're looking at about fourteen enemies?"
"Oops, might've miscalculated."
"Huh? Fourteen's still too low?"
"We could easily handle thirty."
"T-Thirty?!"
"Depending on the situation, maybe even more. But in that case, terrain and enemy
formations become critical."
Even as he said that, Hachiman knew Yukino wouldn't say anything she wasn't sure of.
"Have Yui lead the front line, Kirito-kun and Leafa guard the flanks. You and Komachi will handle defense and mobile strikes. I'll coordinate from the backline with Iroha."
"Yukino, you're a healer, right? Is your MP enough?"
"Leave the resource management to me. I'll handle it perfectly."
"Strangely reassuring when you say it like that."
"Then we head straight for Lúgulu Town tomorrow."
"We'll take turns showing ourselves in the current town, pretend we're still here."
"We're close to Arne Town. After a short rest, we'll continue flying and try to shorten the distance. We'll find a safe midway point."
"Even though you must be exhausted… I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry about it. For our mission, this much trouble is nothing."
"Thanks, Yukino. Thank the others for me too. I'll leave it to you."
"Okay."
After hanging up and logging back into the game, Hachiman conveyed everything to the other two. Leafa sent a message to Regen with the updated travel plan for the next day, and asked him to give Sigurd fake info with a much later arrival time than the actual one.
The three then headed back to log out safely.
"But if we set all this up and no one shows, it'll be kinda silly."
"Wouldn't that actually be easier though?"
"Well, I'm counting on you two tomorrow!"
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, Leafa."
After saying their farewells, the three logged out of the game.
At the moment they logged out, a hooded player came running from a distance, trying to talk to them, but didn't make it in time.
He looked around in disappointment, then slumped his shoulders.
"Missed them… But we'll definitely meet tomorrow. Better to save the anticipation."
Muttering to himself, the mysterious player quietly disappeared.
"Geez, so confident..."