With the surrounding mist burned away by the Pseudo Nichirin Blade, Akimi and Asuna had essentially eliminated any chance of being affected by the weakening effect at its source.
However, since it wasn't a true Nichirin Blade, Wakuraba's tentacles recovered only a short while after being severed.
As the tentacles lashed out again, Akimi and Asuna constantly switched positions, cutting them apart while dashing forward.
They moved like a single spinning blade, effortlessly shredding every obstacle in their path.
By now, even with its sluggish mind, Wakuraba could roughly guess the reason behind its disadvantage.
But with no effective countermeasures, all it could do was keep flailing its tentacles to slow them down—which, clearly, wasn't working.
As Akimi and Asuna steadily closed the distance, Wakuraba's body began to emerge more clearly from the fog, its ugly expression becoming more visible.
It wasn't long before the two were right in front of it.
At the same time, they both raised their Nichirin Blades and shouted the name of their sword form—
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
The blue blades of their Nichirin Swords crossed like a pair of shears, slicing toward the neck buried in the creature's mass of flesh.
Szzzt—
The Pseudo Nichirin Blade's effect rapidly seared the mucus on Wakuraba's skin, rendering it useless and charring patches of its flesh.
The Nichirin Blades easily slid into its body.
Crack—
After briefly being halted by bone, Wakuraba's neck was snapped by their combined force.
A head wrapped in layers of flesh slowly slid out from the gash.
When it hit the ground, it even bounced once before rolling slightly away, separating completely from the lump of flesh.
Watching Wakuraba's body begin to crumble, Akimi let out a light sigh of relief.
"Phew—finally, it's over…"
Asuna sheathed her Radiant Silverlight and brushed aside a few strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek, a faint smile on her face.
But she couldn't shake the strange feeling that something was off… It was as if they had overlooked something.
And besides, could a Lower Moon demon that had killed over a dozen swordsmen really be this weak?
Akimi quickly grew serious as well—on his quest panel, the demon-slaying mission still wasn't marked as complete.
"Asuna! Be ca—"
Before he could warn her, the change had already begun.
The mounds of earth that hid the giant leeches converged at incredible speed beneath Asuna's feet, forming a tall mound in the blink of an eye.
Its surface was damp and sticky, a mix of soil and leech mucus, pulsing and denting irregularly—an unmistakable sign that the number of leeches inside was terrifying.
But soon, the pulsing slowed… while the bulges grew significantly larger.
The next moment, an enormous leech—so massive that "huge" wasn't even enough to describe it—burst through the soil with its gaping maw.
The rings of sharp teeth inside that mouth were enough to make one's skin crawl.
Its sheer size made every detail on its body disturbingly clear: ridged segments like deep ravines, eye spots the size of fists, and patterns resembling squirming tendrils.
These features, normally hard to notice, were now magnified to a level plainly visible to the naked eye.
It seemed that all the leeches the Wakuraba had summoned earlier had now fused into one.
Fortunately, Asuna was fast enough—using the flying chunks of dirt as footholds, she leapt clear of the leech's attack range and landed beside Akimi with a turn.
Atop the giant leech's head, Wakuraba's upper body was seamlessly connected to it, its expression infinitely darker—like someone who had just eaten something foul.
Well… not just Wakuraba looked like it had eaten something disgusting—Akimi did too.
"I've never seen anything this revolting in my life—" Akimi said with utter distaste, staring at Wakuraba.
For the slightly germophobic Asuna, her reaction was even more obvious, but instead of recoiling, she actually cracked a joke: "Mhm, well, you've seen it now."
Wakuraba's expression grew even uglier at their casual banter.
Grinding its teeth, it snarled, "Two obnoxious pests… even more annoying than rats in the gutter!"
"Hah? You've grown this big and still haven't developed a brainstem? You're not even human—are you sure you're not describing yourself?"
Without hesitation, Akimi hurled back a string of cutting remarks.
His tone was light, but his gaze never left Wakuraba, and his grip on his sword remained firm.
The Pseudo Nichirin Blade wouldn't last much longer, and once its enhancement was gone, their battle would become far more difficult.
And if they chose to retreat now, defeating Wakuraba later would be even harder—because in SAO, monster combat AI could grow on its own.
If they left now, the next time they fought it, they might be facing a high-intelligence Wakuraba.
Which meant they had to kill it here and now.
With that in mind, Akimi didn't hesitate any longer and immediately began discussing the next battle strategy with Asuna.
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