Melina nodded. When Asuna rose to her feet, Melina vanished.
Asuna then set off again for Roundtable City and entered the Roundtable Hold.
"Kiriko? Why did you suddenly call me over?"
Asuna asked.
"Sorry, but... the Stormveil Castle raid may have to be moved up," Kiriko said.
"...
"This is what I screenshotted earlier, Lady."
Diabel walked over and displayed a screenshot.
"This is the dungeon map for Stormveil Castle...
Beneath the Stormveil Castle raid was a red bar.
And now, that red bar had already progressed halfway.
"I remember this being the failure progress bar for the raid, right?"
Asuna said.
"That's right," Kiriko said. "We don't have much time. Once this progress bar fills up, Stormveil Castle will enter Berserk State and start frantically sending troops out to attack. At that point, none of Limgrave's 'Sites of Grace' will remain safe zones."
"I asked Holy Dragon and the Army, but neither guild has anyone raiding this dungeon," Diabel said.
"This progress bar is too abnormal. This isn't a normal raid. Someone has been repeatedly failing while we've been raiding," Kiriko added.
Asuna looked around.
Quite a few of the people summoned were elites from the previous raid.
Besides that, Asuna spotted Kayaba Akihiko... no, Heathcliff.
"Repeatedly failing?" Asuna asked.
"A normal raid would never make the progress bar rise this quickly," Kiriko said. "So the most likely possibility is that someone did something and probably pushed the bar this far."
"And Stormveil Castle's outer perimeter is huge. If someone is hiding out there and repeatedly failing, we won't be able to catch them at all," Diabel said.
"Maybe someone has despaired over the game and wants to drag everyone down with them," someone said.
That single sentence instantly made the atmosphere much colder.
"Although I didn't want to