"How did this weird nickname even come about? Every time, someone calls me something like 'demon'..."
Asuna pouted as she complained.
"Then... Flash?" The girl tilted her head.
"Mm-hmm, that sounds good." Kiriko was still smiling.
"Flash... Yeah, that does sound nice." Asuna muttered.
"Oh, right." The girl hurriedly stood up and bowed to them. "Hello, I'm Silica. Thank you both so much for rescuing us."
"It was nothing. We just happened to be nearby. It's good that you're okay." Asuna said, "But what about you? How did you provoke Giant Lobsters? I thought the practical training was supposed to be against Man-Eating Flowers?"
"Yeah, because we took care of the Man-Eating Flowers early, everyone suggested continuing the hunt. Then we accidentally pulled three Giant Lobsters..."
Remembering what had happened earlier, Silica was still shaken.
"I see..." Kiriko nodded. "Luckily, it was on an open field map. Otherwise, if it had been inside a dungeon, we wouldn't have been able to get there so quickly."
Aside from being invaded, dungeons could also receive support.
"Um, do you two have some kind of mission? I can help!"
In the "original work," Silica's Bina had already died, so she had been in a terrible state.
But here, because she had undergone training in advance and the mechanics differed somewhat from the original Aincrad, Bina was still alive.
As a result, Silica was full of energy now.
"Uh—"
Unexpectedly, after Silica said that, Asuna's expression turned subtle.
"W-what is it? Is it some incredible mission?" Images like "epic" and "heroic" flashed through Silica's mind.
"Well, it's not a system quest. It's something the Strategy Group is investigating... ghosts." Kiriko said.
"Uh—h-how could there be ghosts? It's all just a bunch of data..."
Asuna muttered under her breath.
"Didn't the academy have zombies before?"