The moment the male elf's sword pointed at Lillian, the marker above his head instantly turned red, his HP bar appearing as well. Meanwhile, the female elf's marker turned yellow, indicating she was the quest giver.
In an instant, friend and foe were clearly defined. All that remained was to mercilessly beat my teammate—no, wait—my enemy, and protect my teammate!
Bzzzz—
The glow of an advanced sword skill flared brilliantly, gathering on the blade into a spinning point of light. That point then shot outward, becoming a beam as thick as a finger, scorching the spot where Lillian had been standing.
"Flashy nonsense."
Lillian had already left that position. After a short run-up, he leapt high into the air and unleashed a deadly, straightforward overhead strike!
Boom!
The heavy sound of shield meeting greatsword rang out. The contempt on the male elf's face vanished instantly, replaced by a grim seriousness—almost panic. Because Lillian wasn't the only one attacking. The tall female elf had no intention of "honorably" standing aside to watch a one-on-one duel.
Slash—!
The curved blade came in from a vicious angle toward the male elf's flank. He gritted his teeth and roared, "Hah!" Using his shield, he forced Lillian back, then barely managed to jam his sword against the curved blade at the critical moment!
The two elves were originally evenly matched. Even adding an ordinary player to one side would tip the balance significantly—let alone someone like Lillian, a top-tier combatant. After retreating two steps, he surged forward again, his speed nearly doubling.
As the saying goes: No technique is unbreakable—except by speed. If you don't have the the ability, then lie down and take it.
Circling to the male elf's side, Lillian activated a martial arts skill. With system-enhanced power, the horizontal kick struck with terrifying speed and force. The male elf tried to block but was too late; before he could raise his shield, he was kicked to the ground. Seizing the opening, the female elf decisively slashed her curved blade across his exposed neck.
Hiss—!
The male elf's HP bar instantly dropped into the red. He let out a furious roar and suddenly threw away his shield, gripping his sword with both hands as golden light enveloped the entire blade.
"Fall back!" the female elf shouted to Lillian, though she herself tightened her grip on her weapon and began charging power. Purple-black light flared up, forming a stark contrast with the male elf's gold.
"Can sword skills not be interrupted?"
Lillian didn't listen. With a single step forward, moving so fast that the female elf's vision blurred, the greatsword pierced straight through the male elf's chest in the next instant.
Whoosh—!
The golden light that had been gathering on the gem-inlaid longsword raised high by the male elf collapsed like a sandcastle washed away by the tide, vanishing along with the empty HP bar above his head.
"How… is this… possible…"
He staggered backward a few steps, then finally fell, powerless.
"I just don't like standing around waiting for someone to charge up a big move," Lillian said calmly. "It feels stupid."
Crack…
The male elf's body shattered into fragments and silently dissipated. A window with exaggerated numbers popped up in front of Lillian.
[Exp: 3000]
[Col: 2200]
[Items: 2]
Probably an elite monster.
Lillian checked the battle log and realized the male elf had only been level 15—no wonder he went down so easily. He was three levels lower than Lillian. Of course, to be fair, Lillian had technically stolen the kill; the one who dealt most of the damage was actually the female elf—who was now supporting herself with one hand on the ground, looking utterly exhausted.
"Are you alright?" Lillian asked as he opened his inventory.
The male elf had dropped two items: a material called [Breath of the Elf], and [Lightweight Barrier], which was unmistakably the square shield the elf had been using earlier.
So it actually dropped that—nice luck.
Just as Lillian was about to check the item's stats, the female elf spoke up, her voice echoing softly.
"I'm fine… thank you."
She stood up and walked over to where the male elf had vanished. Wearing black leather gloves, she picked up a small pouch from the ground—Lillian had been too focused on his inventory to notice it earlier.
She looked at the pouch, clenched it tightly, and held it to her chest, letting out a long breath as if finally at ease.
"So the sanctuary is temporarily secured…"
Sanctuary…?
Lillian had no idea what she was talking about. By then, the female elf had already put the pouch away and walked over to him, bowing slightly as she spoke with sincerity.
"Thanks to your assistance, we successfully defended the first secret key. I am deeply grateful."
Secret key?
"Ah… honestly, I just found that guy annoying," Lillian replied, though inwardly he was already thinking that this quest clearly wasn't over yet.
Sure enough, the female elf continued, "Please come with me back to our Dark Elf camp. Now that we've recovered the secret key, both of us will receive a reward from the commander."
"Oh. Sure."
Even though he didn't fully understand the situation, Lillian followed her. At the very least, he'd collect the commander's reward first and figure things out later.
As they walked, the female elf took the initiative to introduce herself. Her name was Kizmel, and she was a member of the Dark Elves. As for the elf they had just fought, he belonged to the Forest Elves. Both were elves, but from different branches of the same race.
She didn't explain the deeper reasons behind their conflict, nor the details about the "sanctuary" or the "secret key." Lillian didn't ask either. Those were clearly deeper layers of the quest, and at this stage, he probably wouldn't get any answers anyway.
Before long, following Kizmel, they entered a region shrouded in thick fog. The Dark Elf seemed to possess night vision, effortlessly dealing with monsters that Lillian couldn't even see. Soon after, they arrived at a camp dotted with black banners planted in the ground.
"Setting up camp inside dense fog?" Lillian looked around curiously. Normally, players wouldn't wander into fog where they couldn't see anything.
"This is the effect of the incantation 'Sink into the Forest.' It is extremely difficult for humans to locate," Kizmel explained.
"An incantation?" Lillian asked with interest. "So besides sword skills, there are other power systems?"
Surely there couldn't be a sword skill capable of creating such a massive illusion—that would be way too fantastical.
As expected, Kizmel shook her head. "It has nothing to do with sword skills. Incantations… are a branch of magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes. Though calling it a 'branch' might not be accurate. It's merely a remnant of ancient magic. Ever since we were separated from the earth, we lost the ability to use true magic…"
Separated from the earth… was she referring to this floating city?
Lillian pondered silently. He knew that SAO—no, rather, the NerveGear—wasn't that simple. It wasn't running only the SAO server; there were others as well, such as the game known as ALO, Alfheim Online.
If these worlds shared a common setting, then their background lore might overlap. Still, Lillian didn't feel like digging too deeply into it. That would mean more quests—and more quests meant more time. He didn't have that luxury.
They entered the camp together. Dark Elf soldiers stood guard and patrolled the area, casting scrutinizing glances at Lillian. Their eyes held a trace of curiosity, as if wondering why a human had been brought here.
Compared to their vigilance, Lillian himself was far more curious. He looked around at the horns, banners, and tents within the Dark Elf camp, all crafted with striking realism. It truly felt like a Western fantasy elven settlement, with nothing immersion-breaking about it.
Soon, the two arrived at a large tent. Kizmel led Lillian inside, where the commander was already waiting.
After hearing the details of what had happened, the commander was extremely pleased and granted Lillian a generous monetary reward. Then, just as Lillian expected, a "!" symbol appeared above the commander's head.
As he thought, this was a continuous story quest.
Since he'd already started it, there was no reason to stop now. And considering how generous the rewards were just for the first stage, completing the entire questline—"The Emerald Secret Key"—would likely result in a significant overall boost to his strength.
After accepting the quest, the commander instructed Kizmel to escort Lillian back. The two walked to the edge of the camp, where she smiled and said, "I'll be counting on your assistance for the next task as well."
"Alright."
"Oh, right. I never asked your name. I'm Kizmel—what about you, human?"
"Lillian."
"Lil…lian. Human names really are strange. But I'll remember it. So, will you be staying in the camp tonight? Or I can use an incantation to send you back to the human city."
"Please send me back. I need to make some combat preparations."
"Mm."
Next, Kizmel handed Lillian a stone engraved with strange runes. She murmured a few words, and in an instant, Lillian felt his vision go dark. When his sight returned, he was already standing in the town on the third floor, right in front of the teleport gate.
"Perfect timing," he said, placing a hand on the gate.
Light flared up as the teleportation function connecting the third floor to the first and second floors officially activated. Moments later, a message from Argo came through.
{...You?}