Chapter 150

“Perverted Master, are you asleep?” That evening, as I was lying in bed turning on the Suigintou lamp after having a good time with Asuna at noon, Silica suddenly sent me a message.

“Not yet, but it’s getting late. Silica sent me a message saying that the night is long and she can’t sleep. Does she want me to come and keep her company?” I replied to Silica’s message while touching the smooth, flat abdomen of the mercury lamp.

“Pah, no way! I’m sleeping with Liz right now, you perverted master, please don’t come over.” Remembering how I messed with her in the break room yesterday, Silica quickly warned me first, then cautiously glanced at Liz, who was already fast asleep next to her. Even though she knew that sending a message wouldn’t make any noise, she still felt a little guilty.

“I don’t mind.” Or rather, I’d be happy to, and maybe I could even drag Silica’s friend into it.

“But I mind! If you come over, you perverted master, I’ll… I’ll never talk to you again.” Silica is now regretting sending me the message. What if I really come over? She’ll definitely make noise, and even if Liz is sound asleep, she’ll be woken up.

“Silica, you’re ignoring me now? Is that all the affection we have for each other is worth?”

“What do you mean ‘this’? Liz is sleeping next to me right now. If she did that kind of thing, wouldn’t she be a complete pervert? Ignoring you is already being lenient. If it were any other woman, she might have just grabbed a knife and attacked you.” Silica wrinkled her nose slightly and glared at the message screen, as if she could glare at me through the screen.

“I knew you were the best to me, Silica.” I was completely oblivious to Silica’s lecturing, or rather, given my thick skin, such a lecture was utterly ineffective.

“No, that’s not true, um… I’m not going to tell you about that perverted master.” Before I could finish speaking, Silica blushed bright red herself.

“Alright, alright, I’m just teasing you. I was just trying to ease your tension, Silica.”

“You perverted master, how could you tell that I came to you because I was nervous?” Although she said she was ignoring me, Silica couldn’t help but keep sending me messages. She hadn’t even said anything yet, but I had already teased her.

“Considering that you’re going to conquer the last floor tomorrow, and Silica, you didn’t come here to ask me for sex, the most likely reason is that you’re nervous and can’t sleep, so you came to talk to me.”

“Even a perverted master like you still cares about me.” Silica, lying on her side on the bed, smiled slightly, her cute, fair feet swaying gently up and down, showing that she was in a good mood.

“Of course, after all, Silica, you’re so cute, I really like you, so I can’t skimp on taking care of you.” Mercury Lamp gradually fell asleep under my gentle caress, her cute little face pressed against my chest, her soft breaths hitting my chest.

“Hmph, you take it all for granted when I say something nice.” Silica probably didn’t realize that she was now acting just like a girl in love, having a long phone conversation.

“Silica, are you less nervous now?”

“I think so.” I had talked to Liz in bed earlier, but after Liz fell asleep, she still couldn’t fall asleep, so she came to talk to me. I didn’t expect that her tense and uneasy mood would be relieved a lot in a short time.

“Actually, Silica, you don’t need to worry about anything. Just like I said before, even if you fail, I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt, not even the final boss in the SAO world.” In fact, even if I don’t take action, Suigintou is enough to deal with Kayaba Akihiko.

“Hmm.” Silica didn’t say much more. The complex emotions contained in that single “hmm” were probably beyond even her own ability to articulate.

“That’s good. Since everything’s alright, get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on you tomorrow.” Of course, Asuna would do the same, but it’s definitely not appropriate to talk about that now.

“Goodnight, Master.” Since I forced myself on her, Silica rarely called me Master again without my request or need, which shows that her feelings for me have deepened tonight.

“Goodnight.” After seeing my reply, Silica slowly closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, her little face showing a peaceful and content expression.

The next day, the Sai player strategy team officially set off for the final floor to challenge Kayaba Akihiko, the culprit who had trapped them there. At the departure ceremony, everyone wore a serious expression, as the battle that would once again determine their fate was about to begin.

“Asuna, I’ve wanted to tell you this before, but there are just too few girls in your strategy group. If it were me, I would definitely stop the all-female strategy group and be the only guy leading it.” Of course, that serious atmosphere has nothing to do with me. I just need to keep an eye on Asuna and Silica.

“Do you think everyone is like you, you big pervert?” My sudden question almost made Asuna lose her serious expression.

“Indeed, I am a unique being. Asuna, you understand me more and more.” I didn’t follow Asuna and the others directly. Instead, I sat in the living room watching the images on the big screen, with Asuna on one side and Silica on the other.

“Stop talking to me, we’re leaving soon.” Asuna replied to me in her mind. She was well aware of my shamelessness, and if I kept talking to her, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the fight.

“Okay, safety first. We’ll talk properly in bed later, Asuna.” After saying that, I ended my telepathic conversation with Asuna, which made Asuna, who wanted to refute me, pause for a moment, feeling like I had her completely under my control.

I said a few words to Silica as well, which calmed the girl down a bit. After they left, I didn’t want to tease them anymore, so I took out some melon seeds and drinks, hugged the doll-like exquisite mercury lamp, and watched the show.

There’s not much to say about entering the final level; there wasn’t even much combat once they entered the palace. No monsters appeared along the way, and this continued until the team arrived at a large gate in the palace. This gate was no different from the bosses they had encountered in other levels, except that it was larger and had more patterns.

“This must be it, the place of the final battle.” Everyone looked at the tall stone gate with a hint of tension, gripping their weapons tightly, ready to fight at any moment.

“Everyone, are you ready?” Although the absence of monsters along the way made it easy for them to reach the Boss room, the team knew that this did not mean Kayaba Akihiko was going easy on them. On the contrary, they estimated that an even tougher battle awaited them behind the door.

“certainly.”

“no problem.”

“We’ve come this far, how can we back down now?” The members of the strategy team all gave affirmative answers. The man who led the strategy team nodded and placed his hand on the stone door.

The patterns on the stone gate glowed faintly, then slowly opened automatically, revealing a space the size of a plaza. At the back of the plaza was a square stone arena, with fifteen black-armored knights on each side of the arena, each wielding a different weapon, including swords, knives, axes, chain hammers, and iron spears.

On the arena, a middle-aged man in red armor stood in the center. He was the target of the raid team’s operation, the creator of the SAO world, and the architect of this death game: Kayaba Akihiko.

“They’ve finally arrived, everyone. As I said before, I’ve always wanted to wait for adventurers in a castle and then reveal my true identity. But I didn’t expect that Kirito would shatter that idea beforehand. But it doesn’t feel so bad now.”

Kayaba Akihiko spoke to the members of the strategy team as if he were talking to old friends. Indeed, most of the members of the strategy team used to be his teammates, but now they have become his opponents.

“Enough with the nonsense, we’re here today to defeat you.” But the members of the strategy team had no interest in chatting with Kayaba Akihiko and drew their weapons.

“That’s right, I will definitely take care of you today, Kayaba Akihiko.” Kirigaya Kazuto also drew his black and white twin swords from behind him, raising the black one, the Elucidator, towards Kayaba Akihiko.

Asuna, standing behind Kirito, had already drawn her silver-white rapier. This sword had been enhanced by me, increasing its attack power and speed, and its slender tip gleamed with a cold light.

Silica, who was further back, exchanged a glance with Pina, both of them gripping their own enhanced one-handed short swords. The enhanced short swords not only had increased melee power, but I had also added some skills that could enhance Pina, making them more suitable for Silica’s Dragon Knight profession.

“Is that so? What a pity. This scene is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to say a few more words. Since that’s the case, let’s go. Let me see how much you’ve improved since before.” The current situation can be said to be the realization of Kayaba Akihiko’s childhood dream, even though he is the Boss.

As soon as Kayaba Akihiko finished speaking, the black-armored knights on both sides of the arena immediately charged towards the group of attackers. The group of attackers were not to be outdone and charged forward as well, and soon they were engaged in battle.

Kayaba Akihiko’s black-armored knights outnumbered the rest, and the NPCs he assigned here were all very powerful in terms of AI and stats. Overall, they were stronger than most of the strategy team. However, the strategy team could still handle the situation in one-on-one combat for the time being.

As for the extra ones, the strongest members of the strategy team can only fight one more. Asuna, for example, is currently dealing with two black-armored knights by herself. Her slender silver sword thrusts rapidly, and Asuna still holds a certain advantage on the field, but it is not possible to finish them off quickly.

“Kirito, how about we continue our duel from last time?” Just then, Kayaba Akihiko suddenly spoke up, his eyes fixed intently on Kirigaya Kazuto, who was also dealing with two black-armored knights.

“Alright.” Kirito used his twin swords to block the black-armored knight’s attack, took a moment to think, and then agreed. If Kayaba Akihiko hadn’t suddenly unleashed a small burst of power last time, he would have already won. Moreover, this black-armored knight couldn’t be dealt with in a short time. If Kayaba Akihiko suddenly made a move, it would be all over.

Most importantly, as a teenager, he does have some fantasies about one-on-one hero duels. Although he was terrified after teetering on the brink of death last time, he did get a thrill from fighting Kayaba Akihiko.

“Very well, then come up here.” Kayaba Akihiko smiled with satisfaction. This arena was specially prepared for this moment.

The two black-armored knights who were fighting Kirigaya Kazuto stopped what they were doing and stood aside to make way for Kirigaya Kazuto to go up. Kirigaya Kazuto walked to the arena without hesitation.

“Kirito-kun, wait a minute.” Asuna, who was on the other side, wanted to step forward to help. Having learned from her previous experience, Asuna would not stand idly by in a duel this time.

So she used her quick movement to temporarily dodge the two black-armored knights. Just as she was about to step forward, another black-armored knight appeared in front of her. This was the same black-armored knight who was originally fighting Kirito. Obviously, Kayaba Akihiko did not intend to let anyone else interfere with his battle with Kirito.

“Asuna…” Seeing Asuna’s reaction, Kirito, who had just walked onto the arena, was about to say something when he noticed a transparent barrier rising up on the arena, instantly blocking out the sounds from outside.

“I think Kirito, you wouldn’t want the duel to be disturbed either, would you?” It was Kayaba Akihiko who did this, of course; he didn’t want this long-awaited battle to be interrupted by anyone else.

“That’s true. I’ll definitely defeat you this time, Kayaba Akihiko.” To this, Kirigaya Kazuto could only give Asuna a reassuring and apologetic look before looking firmly at Kayaba Akihiko ahead.

“I’m looking forward to it, so let’s begin.” Kayaba Akihiko once again took out a shield, but this one was more ornate than the previous one, and he also took out a broadsword in blood red.

The battle was about to break out, and the figures of Kirito and Kayaba Akihiko kept crossing and separating, but my attention was not on them at all. Isn’t the fighting prowess of the beautiful girl appealing? And Suigintou was making tea for me.

“Father, please.” Mercury Lamp’s small, porcelain-white hands pushed the brewed black tea in front of me; her fair, jade-like hands were even more exquisite than the expensive teacup.

“Good girl, you are my good daughter.” Because she was making tea, Suigintou did not sit on my lap. Her petite figure sat on the large table like a delicate doll, without any sense of impoliteness.

“Hmm.” Suigintou was clearly satisfied with my answer. She picked up her black tea in front of her with her small hands, took a small sip, and although her face was expressionless, a hint of joy flashed in her red eyes.

“Jian, you’ve been watching, haven’t you?” Just as I was enjoying the black tea under the mercury bulb and the little loli’s elegant tea tasting, Asuna suddenly sent me a message.

It turns out that after Asuna saw the barrier set up on the arena, she retreated. The black-armored knights who were blocking her also retreated to the edge of the arena and did not pursue her. That’s why she was able to send me a message while dealing with the two black-armored knights with relative ease.

“That’s right, what’s wrong?” Seeing that Asuna’s condition was indeed not dangerous, I wasn’t afraid of distracting her and putting her in danger. I quickly replied that I would just help her if necessary.

“This time… are our chances of winning high?” Asuna originally wanted to ask Kirito directly about his chances of winning, but considering my personality, she decisively changed her mind. Moreover, for some reason, she seemed to have a feeling that she didn’t want to mention it in front of me. This must be her imagination; why would she care about this guy’s feelings?

“Well, it’s a 50/50 chance, a 50/50 chance.” Although the strategy team had made preparations and were stronger than before, Kayaba Akihiko had also become stronger.

Asuna was speechless. Although it was good news that Kayaba Akihiko’s side was in the lead, she felt like I hadn’t said anything at all.

Frustrated, Asuna vented her anger on the black-armored knights she was fighting. Her silver rapier relentlessly attacked the gaps in the knights’ armor. If the two knights hadn’t coordinated their attacks, they probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

Silica clicked her tongue as she watched Asuna’s battle. “Asuna’s fighting power is so strong,” she thought. “I wonder if it’s thanks to her perverted master, just like me.”

Not wanting to lose either, Silica called out to Pina, and the two of them, one human and one dragon, launched a fierce attack on the Black Armor Knight. The Black Armor Knight, who was already at a disadvantage, was now even more unable to defend himself, and his health bar began to drop rapidly.

With Silica’s current strength, dealing with two Black Armor Knights might be difficult, but with only one, it was no challenge for her. So, she quickly eliminated the Black Armor Knight and immediately went to help Asuna.

“Thank you, Silica.” Asuna, who was already dominating the two black-armored knights, became even more aggressive with Silica’s help, and the two black-armored knights’ health bars quickly dropped to the red alert line.

Just as Silica and Asuna swiftly killed the two black-armored knights, a red light flashed in the eyes of the black-armored knights who were originally guarding the two sides of the arena. Then, they quickly approached, and a white light flashed. The two black-armored knights merged into a black-armored knight with a body size of nearly 2 meters. Its armor was even more magnificent, and it held a giant sword in its hand.

“It’s not that simple after all.” I originally planned to help the others deal with the Black Armor Knights and then find a way to break the barrier together, but now it seems I have to deal with the combined Black Armor Knights in front of me first.

Asuna and Silica exchanged a glance, then launched an attack together. Asuna used her speed advantage to move around and attack, while Silica gave Pina a buff, making the fireballs she spewed even hotter.

Although Asuna and Silica are the strongest among the remaining members of the strategy team, the combination of the two Black Knights is obviously not as simple as 1+1=2. Both their defense and attack are greatly enhanced, and they also have stronger exclusive skills. It’s as if the previous Black Knights were underlings, and the combined ones are the bosses.

Fortunately, the other black-armored knights fighting the raiding party showed no signs of merging, otherwise it would have been a huge problem. Perhaps those two black-armored knights were special individuals who possessed such abilities.

“Kayaba Akihiko really put some thought into his duel with Kirito. They’re such a bromance.” I shook my head with a smile as I watched the scene unfold, then picked up a small pastry and brought it to Suigintou’s lips.

Suigintou opened her pink little mouth and took a small bite of the pastry. Because it was a pastry specially made for Suigintou, it was the size that most people could eat in one bite. For a loli-sized girl like Suigintou, taking a bite of half of it was no problem.

As Suigintou swallowed the pastry in her little mouth, she continued to eat the other half of the pastry. Just as I was about to withdraw my finger, Suigintou stuck out her tender red tongue and gently licked my finger.

A smooth, tender, and ticklish sensation came from my fingertips, as if my fingers were covered in powdered sugar from a pastry. Mercury Lamp’s small hands grabbed my large hands, and her pink little tongue carefully licked my thumb and forefinger.

“That’s enough, Father.” After carefully licking my fingers back and forth several times, Suigintou released her little hand, looked at the remaining pastries with her calm red eyes, and then looked at me.

I naturally understood what Suigintou meant, so I continued to pick up the small pastries and put them to Suigintou’s mouth. Just as Suigintou and I were having our feeding play, the battle of the strategy team had entered its final stage.

To be precise, the battle between Kirigaya Kazuto and Kayaba Akihiko is about to reach a conclusion. If Kayaba Akihiko loses, everyone can return to the real world. If Kayaba Akihiko wins, the strategy team will likely have to retreat after losing Kirigaya Kazuto, a major fighting force. After all, Asuna will probably not be able to contribute to the battle then. Without two major fighting forces, how can they continue fighting?

The changes on the battlefield were naturally noticed by the members of the strategy team. Although only about twenty minutes had passed in the battle, this was a battle between people, unlike the battle against monsters or bosses with high health. In player-versus-player combat, it was possible to be killed in a few minutes or even less than a minute. Twenty minutes was already considered a long time.

As expected, a few minutes later, the barrier on the arena disappeared, and both Kirito and Kayaba Akihiko remained in their sword-wielding attack stances. For a moment, it was impossible to tell who had won or lost.

“You did it, Kirito.” Kayaba Akihiko was the first to turn around, planting his broadsword in the ground as he spoke to Kirito.

“Yes.” Kirito also turned around, looked at Kayaba Akihiko in silence for a moment, and then replied.

“Well then, everyone, congratulations on clearing the game SAO.” Kayaba Akihiko simply smiled and then sent a congratulatory message to all players in the SAO world. At the same time, Kayaba Akihiko’s figure gradually turned into light particles.

“Asuna, we won.” Kayaba Akihiko lost, and the black-armored knights stopped moving. Seeing this, Silica jumped up and down on Asuna.

“Yes.” Asuna smiled happily. She had finally cleared the game SAO that had trapped them for so long, and she could finally return to the real world and see her parents.

“Looks like our snack time is over.” Just as Kayaba Akihiko’s figure completely disappeared, the SAO world collapsed, and all players were forcibly logged out of the game.

“Hmm.” Mercury Lamp flew up and sat on my shoulder. She had no attachment to this Sao world; being with me was enough for her.

“Next, it’s time to go and get to your sister, Suigintou.” I patted Suigintou’s little head. I wasn’t interested in Kayaba Akihiko and Kirigaya Kazuto whispering to each other. I even created a private space for them so that Asuna wouldn’t disturb them. I’m such a good person.

Giving Asuna and Kirito a chance to say goodbye in the game? No way. Since Kayaba Akihiko wants to see Kirito one last time, let them meet. I’ll just accelerate the disappearance of the SAO world. But before that, I have something else to do.

While replying to Silica’s messages, I arrived at a stratum of green hills and clear waters. The lush green hills and clear waters here were indeed very suitable for a leisurely life, and the target I was looking for was in this stratum.

Because of the time constraint, after sensing the location of the target, I immediately teleported there with the Mercury Lamp and arrived in front of a small wooden house. Outside the small wooden house was a little girl with black hair.

She has a delicate little face, big black eyes, small lips, and a cute little nose. She wears a pure white ribbon dress, making her look like a little fairy in the forest.

“Excuse me, is this cute little girl a child who was abandoned by her parents?” I quickly walked to the railing of the wooden house and asked the little black-haired girl sitting there.

“No, I wasn’t abandoned by my mom and dad!” Yui looked at me with some surprise. She didn’t expect that someone would come back at a time like this. But as soon as she heard my words, she puffed out her cheeks and retorted angrily.

“Oh, so why are you all alone at a time like this?” The girl in front of me is Yui, a black-haired little girl who was adopted by Asuna and Kirito and was born with human emotions in the SAO world.

“They…they just went to do what they were supposed to do.” Yui thought that she and her parents were ultimately from different worlds. Now that Sao was about to disappear, they should have finished what they were supposed to do. She should be happy for her parents, but the thought of never seeing them again made Yui’s eyes dim.

“Oh, so you’re still being left here all alone?” I nodded in sudden realization, as if I understood what was going on.

“Hmm…” Yui’s cheeks puffed up again, like a blown-up balloon.

“Okay, I’m not teasing you anymore. No matter what, it’s an undeniable fact that you and your parents are going to separate, right?” I suppressed the urge to poke the little black-haired girl’s chubby cheeks with my finger and said seriously.

“Hmm.” Yui leaned against the wooden railing, feeling a little depressed. Although she didn’t want to admit it, it was the truth: the SAO world was over, her parents were going back to the real world, and she would disappear along with that world.

“If I could let you see your parents again, would you come with me?” That’s my purpose for coming here: to rescue Yui before Kirito and separate her from the SAO world. It’s an easy thing for me to do.

“Really? But…” Yui raised her head in surprise, her black pearl-like eyes widening as she looked at me with her mouth slightly open.

“I’m not lying to you. After all, even if you don’t agree, I’m going to take Suigintou with me when I leave this world.” With that, I took Suigintou off my shoulder and held her in front of me.

“Huh? This one is the same as me? No, that’s not right, there seems to be a difference…” At first, Yui noticed the Mercury Lamp on her upper shoulder, but she didn’t use her CM privileges to investigate, so she didn’t find anything special. Now that I mentioned it, she looked closely and realized that this silver-haired girl had the same SAO world GM privileges as her, but there was something different about her.

“There are indeed similarities, but Suigintou is a consciousness born from the world, which is different from you who already existed.” Yui is an AI program that originally existed in the SAO world. It was only after she came into contact with human emotions and gained self-awareness that she was fully “born” into who she is today.

“Is that so? If it’s true, then can I be taken out of the SAO world?” The presence of Suigintou made my statement somewhat convincing, and Yui’s hopeful eyes perfectly illustrated this point.

“Of course, if I can’t take you out of the Sao world, you’ll disappear. Why would I need to lie to you? I’m not so idle as to deliberately lie to play with someone before they disappear.”

“I understand, then I believe you, Uncle.” The little black-haired girl nodded, choosing to believe me.

“Alright then, there’s not much time left.” By this time, most players had already been forced out of the game. The boundary of the Sao world was disappearing faster and faster. This level had disappeared completely except for the area near the wooden house. If it weren’t for the little black-haired loli in front of them maintaining it, this place would have disappeared as well.

“Hmm.” Yui looked at my outstretched hand. Knowing that time was indeed running out, she hesitated for a moment before placing her small hand in mine. It felt delicate, smooth, warm, and soft to the touch, as if even the slightest pressure would hurt it.

“OK, let’s go.” Yui looked back one last time at the wooden house filled with wonderful memories, and then disappeared along with me and Suigintou.

As we leave the Sao world, Kirito and Kayaba Akihiko’s conversation finally ends. Watching Kayaba Akihiko’s figure disappear, Kirito is about to use the method he previously thought of to preserve Yui to take Yui with him, but he finds that Yui has already disappeared.

“How could this be… Where did Yui go?” Kirito wanted to look for Yui again, but the disappearance of the SAO world did not give him that time. The last expression he left behind when he turned into particles and logged out of the world was one of panic and astonishment.

Today is a memorable day for the Ben family, as their loved ones have finally been freed from that terrifying game world, and most of the surviving players have awakened from stealth mode.

However, about 300 players had not yet awakened, making the day somewhat gloomy. Among them was a girl named Yuuki Asuna.