Back in town, Hachiman and Asuna ran into Kirito by chance.
"Hey, Kirito!" Asuna called out.
"Kirito, been a while!" Hachiman added.
"Good to see you guys," Kirito said. "Coming back from somewhere?"
"Just the labyrinth," Hachiman replied.
"Oh, right, the field boss went down, didn't it? That was quick this time," Kirito noted.
"When'd you get back?" Hachiman asked.
"Last night. I was beat, so I slept till noon today."
"Well, in that case, we've got a souvenir for our tired Kirito," Asuna teased.
"If you're offering, I'll take it. What is it?" Kirito said, curious.
Without a word, Hachiman handed him the chakram.
"…Seriously? I don't even want this," Kirito groaned.
"You said you'd take it," Hachiman shot back, smirking.
"Trapped… ugh, thanks, Hachiman," Kirito muttered.
"No need to force the gratitude, Kiriemon," Hachiman quipped.
"Don't call me Kiriemon!" Kirito snapped.
"Oh, Kirito, you're going for the martial arts skill too, huh?" Asuna chimed in. "Don't worry, I've already seen Hachiemon, so we're even."
"Don't call me Hachiemon!" Hachiman retorted.
The three burst into laughter.
"Just to check, Kirito, you want this?" Hachiman held up the Mighty Strap of Leather.
"That thing? Give it to Egill! It'd suit him perfectly," Kirito said.
"Thought you'd say that," Hachiman replied.
"Yeah, I can't picture anyone else pulling it off," Kirito added.
"Exactly," Asuna agreed.
They laughed again, the moment light and easy.
"By the way, Kirito, heard anything from Argo?" Hachiman asked, shifting gears.
"Oh, yeah, she called me over. I was just heading to meet her," Kirito said.
"Alright. Argo'll fill you in, but it's a bit messy."
"That bad, huh? I'll hear it from her."
"Cool."
After parting with Kirito, Hachiman and Asuna called it a day, too tired from the labyrinth to plan for tomorrow. They just wanted rest.
"Night, Asuna," Hachiman said.
"Good night," she replied softly.
At his inn, Hachiman received a message from Argo requesting a meeting tomorrow with a favor to ask. He agreed and drifted off to sleep.
On the eighth morning since the second floor opened, Hachiman and Argo gathered at Asuna's inn.
"So, what's up?" Hachiman asked.
"Two things," Argo began. "First, about last night. Since you two are involved, I figured you deserve the full story."
Apparently, Kirito had gone to request a weapon enhancement at Argo's behest. Nezha, despite the incident with Hachiman, had moved to another town and continued taking requests. After the weapon "broke," Kirito materialized it in front of Nezha, catching him red-handed. The explanation Nezha gave boiled down to this:
He'd started as a combat player but struggled with depth perception due to a mismatch with the NerveGear. Falling behind, he felt like a burden to his team. Guilt-ridden, he met a mysterious poncho-wearing player who taught him the scam and roped him in. Following Kirito's advice, Nezha had now abandoned his blacksmithing skill to pursue martial arts and was currently punching rocks to unlock it.
"A poncho guy, huh?" Hachiman said.
"No info on him yet, but he doesn't sound like good news," Argo replied.
Hachiman frowned. "If he struggles with depth perception, is martial arts even viable?"
"Here's the thing—he'd also been leveling his throwing skill," Argo said.
"No way… the chakram?" Hachiman realized.
"Exactly. Nice work, Haa-bo," Argo grinned.
"I just offloaded it 'cause it was useless to me. Guess you never know what'll come in handy," Hachiman said, shaking his head.
"Talk about a crazy coincidence," Asuna added.
"Also, 'Nezha' isn't quite right," Argo noted. "He's fine with it, but it's properly Nataku or Naja."
"Got it… So he was trying to be a hero in his own way, huh?" Hachiman mused.
"What's Nataku?" Asuna asked.
"An old Chinese hero from legend," Hachiman explained.
"Oh, I see. So, if we can help the people who lost their weapons, this'll be resolved?" Asuna asked.
"That's the trickiest part," Argo said grimly.
"Yeah…" Asuna sighed.
"Apologies won't cut it for something like this," Argo added.
"It's a crime, so even if they show remorse, forgiveness isn't guaranteed," Hachiman said.
"It's up to them now," Asuna said softly.
"Yeah, that's about it," Hachiman agreed. "So, Argo, what's the other thing?"
Argo leaned in. "The second thing is, we've got decent info on the boss this time, but there's a quest that's been nagging at me."
"How so?" Hachiman asked.
"Call it an info broker's gut, but I think it's tied to the boss somehow."
"You want us to help with it?" Asuna asked.
"Yup. It's a fetch quest—lots of running around."
"I'm in," Hachiman said.
"Me too. Start now?" Asuna asked.
"If you're both good, I'm counting on you," Argo said.
"What about Kirito?" Hachiman asked.
"Kii-bo's escorting Nezha to the martial arts quest spot. After that, he'll head to the strategy meeting to relay any useful info from the quest. My intel says the boss room's about to be found."
"We'd better hurry, then," Asuna said.
"Alright, let's move. Destination's a jungle near the labyrinth," Argo said.
And so, the trio set off for the jungle, where they'd end up running endlessly through its depths.
Meanwhile, Kirito, after guiding Nezha to the martial arts quest location, watched him for a while.
That's some intense focus, Kirito thought. He might clear this faster than I expected.
Kirito stayed there that day, observing. Nezha kept punching rocks without pause. The next morning, Kirito returned to town, where he ran into Egill. Learning the boss room had been found and a strategy meeting was set, Kirito joined in. The meeting went smoothly, and he was added to Egill's party.
"Thanks for letting me in, Egill," Kirito said.
"No problem, but where are those two?" Egill asked.
"They're running around gathering more boss intel."
"Good guys, both of 'em," Egill said.
"Yeah. They went all out for me on the first floor. If there's anything I can do for them, I'm in," Kirito replied.
"Let's make it count tomorrow, then."
"You got it, Egill."
At the same time, Argo received word from Kirito that the strategy meeting had started and ended, and she started to panic.
This might take us till noon tomorrow. Not good, she thought.
"Haa-bo, Aa-chan, the strategy meeting just wrapped," Argo announced.
"That was fast," Hachiman said. "We're still a ways off here."
"If we don't make it in time, we'll have to charge straight to the labyrinth after," Asuna said.
"I've got the map data, so we'll manage," Argo reassured.
"No choice but to push through. Next stop," Hachiman said.
That evening, Nezha, who'd been tirelessly punching rocks, shattered the boulder at an astonishing pace. He descended the mountain and began practicing with the chakram. After a brief rest and meal, he trained through the night. By late morning, he'd mastered the chakram and started toward the labyrinth.
Just before noon the next day, the trio was one step from completing the quest.
"Whew, almost done," Hachiman said, catching his breath.
"That was a slog," Asuna agreed.
"Thanks, you two," Argo said.
"Alright, finished," Hachiman declared.
"Let's see… Haa-bo, Aa-chan, we've got a problem!" Argo exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" Hachiman asked.
"The boss info's off," Argo said. "Or rather, there's another one: Asterios the Taurus King."
"Get word to Kirito, now," Hachiman urged.
Argo tried sending a message, but it didn't go through—players in dungeons couldn't receive them. The main party had already entered the labyrinth.
"Argo, compile the boss info. We'll prep and head to the labyrinth ASAP," Hachiman said.
"I'm coming too. We'll need all the hands we can get," Argo said.
"Got it. Let's move," Asuna said.
They hurriedly prepared and rushed to the labyrinth.
"Hold up, someone's there," Hachiman said, squinting.
"Isn't that… Nezha?" Argo said.
"He must've cleared the quest, but what's he doing here?" Asuna asked, noting his face was free of the usual marker.
They decided to approach.
"Hey, Nezha, what's up?" Hachiman called.
"You… oh, you're Kirito's friend, right?" Nezha said, recognizing him.
"Yeah. Sorry about before," Hachiman said.
"No, it's my fault. Don't worry about it," Nezha replied.
"So, what's going on?" Hachiman asked.
"I finished the quest and trained with the chakram. I came here hoping I could be useful, but I've never been in the labyrinth and got stuck…"
Argo cut in. "Nezha might just be our trump card."
"How so?" Hachiman asked.
"I'll explain on the way. Nezha, we're heading to the boss room. Wanna come?"
"Yes, please let me join!" Nezha said eagerly.
"Alright, everyone, let's go!" Argo shouted.
"Hurry!" Asuna urged.
"Haa-bo, you're on trap and enemy detection," Argo said.
"On it," Hachiman replied.
And so, the key players began to assemble for the day's greatest challenge.