After finishing off Xaxa, Akimi didn't linger and directly returned the way he came.
It had to be said, in such a confined space, the terrain ring's ability to split the battlefield was indeed quite effective—at the very least, during the few minutes Akimi was chasing down Xaxa, it eased a lot of the pressure on Asuna and the others.
"Good work."
Akimi casually struck down a monster that was about to attack Asuna as he spoke.
Asuna shrugged and said, "It wasn't too bad. But just now, you went to…"
Although she already had a good idea of what Akimi had gone to do, Asuna didn't finish her sentence, instead just watching him with concerned eyes.
Looking into Asuna's amber-like eyes and feeling the emotions flowing from them, Akimi chuckled softly, then flicked her forehead lightly.
"Those guys had to be dealt with sooner or later, otherwise they'd remain a hidden threat. But judging by their past habits, that red-eyed one wasn't likely the only one—better stay cautious."
After a brief silence, Asuna gently nodded.
"Alright, once we clear a path, we can use a Teleport Crystal to get out of here… Oh, and here's your ring." Akimi said while slipping the stun ring back into Asuna's hand.
Holding the ring Akimi had returned, Asuna pouted, gave a little huff, and slipped it back onto her left middle finger.
At that moment, Klein, who had just finished clearing a few monsters nearby, saw Akimi return and immediately came over.
"Oh, you're back, Akimi? Just now—you… never mind. But hey, how did you pull off that earth wall?"
Clearly, despite his seemingly carefree demeanor, Klein—gentle and perceptive at heart—had noticed something.
"Don't give me that 'hard work and talent' talk."
Akimi stretched out his hand, showing Klein the terrain ring, and said, "Heh, it's just a little trinket."
"Where'd you get something this useful? Don't keep it all to yourself."
Looking at the ring set with a black gem in Akimi's hand, Klein's face lit up with interest as he asked.
"Found it while searching for relic treasures on the fifth floor… Don't think too much of it, its limit is just this." Akimi said, pointing to the already-crumbling earth wall in front of them.
"I see…" Klein replied, "Ah, but can this thing be used in succession? Like if you use it first, then Asuna uses another right after, something like that."
"…I don't know."
Akimi shook his head—he had never tried it, and besides, he didn't have a second ring to test it with.
Klein said with some excitement, "If it can stack, then this thing would be really useful… definitely worth a try, Akimi."
"True… but the stuff on the fifth floor was already looted ages ago. Ever since SAO officially launched, those items have never respawned."
Hearing Akimi say that, Klein let out a slightly disappointed sigh and gave up on the idea.
Seeing his expression, Akimi added, "But you could ask Argo to help you buy one. A little trinket like this shouldn't be that rare."
But just as Klein was about to agree, he suddenly shivered for no reason and said, "Forget it… Argo's been busy training those low-level players lately. If I bother her over something this small right now… there's no way I could afford her commission fee anyway. I'll just try to buy one myself.
Still, hard to imagine someone with her wheeler-dealer personality would actually go out of her way to do something like that.
And Egil's been running small trades himself to support the mid-tier players."
"Everyone's finding their own way to speed up the clearing process." Akimi chuckled.
"Alright, the trouble hiding in the dark has been dealt with. Time to break through."
As soon as he finished speaking, the earth wall created by the terrain ring slowly collapsed.
—————-
"Boss, we're just going to let them walk away that easily?"
Johnny Black looked at PoH, who was leaning against the wall, and asked.
PoH didn't answer right away.
Instead, he turned his head toward the boss room's massive door not far away.
On the bronze door, strands of black lines outlined a scene: a giant rat wielding a barbed whip, convicts groveling at its feet in agony, and countless skeletons scattered farther away.
After a moment of silence, PoH grinned and said, "Relax—everything's been properly prepared. They have no chance of escaping… Just not yet. Let's let them dance around for a bit longer."
"Heh heh—hearing you say that puts me at ease. But we'll need someone else to take on the red cursor role."
"Doesn't matter. We still have plenty of 'like-minded partners,' don't we?"
"Yeah, that's true."
Neither of them mentioned Xaxa.
Maybe… no.
They simply didn't care about this so-called "subordinate" or "companion."
PoH gave the great door one last glance, then turned, pulled out a teleport crystal, and said:
"Teleport—Jeilreum."
— The end of the Chapter–