The number of players participating in the raid formation wasn't overwhelming, but it wasn't small either.
Only about forty people...a modest number when compared to the maximum potential of a full-scale assault. But in a time when death was still a concept too real and too close, that many was already significant.
They were the ones who dared step out of their safety zones, regardless of fear, regardless of risk, to set foot on a journey no one could be sure they'd return from.
The shadow of the group stretched long as they crossed the field outside Tolbana, where old windmills still spun tirelessly in the morning breeze.
The steady sound of wind rushing through wooden blades, the rhythm of hurried footsteps, and the silence between people who didn't truly know each other, all blended into a quiet melody, tense but resolute.
As the sparse forest came into view, treetops scattered like upright spears against the sky, the path leading to the labyrinth gradually revealed itself...dark, uncertain, and as deep as their future.
"Hey… Ren."
Kirito's voice came lightly, like a breeze, but it was enough to slow Ren's pace, pulling him out of step with the rest.
He glanced ahead, where Asuna walked not far off, her slender figure cloaked in a hooded mantle, silent and distant like a shadow.
"You... knew her before, didn't you?"
Kirito asked, eyes still fixed on Asuna's form, as if trying to find answers in every subtle movement she made.
Ren looked over at him, his gaze revealing no clear emotion, yet containing something hard to grasp, a mix of hesitation and something else...
"Yeah… Met her once."
He replied, voice low. "We worked together… in a rather unpleasant situation. But calling it 'knowing' her... might not be quite right."
Kirito was silent for a moment, then raised an eyebrow slightly, still not taking his eyes off Ren. "Then… what do you think of her?"
Ren paused slightly, as if the question had caught even him off guard. He glanced toward Asuna again, her eyes now completely hidden beneath the fabric, but he could still recall the look she gave him that morning, a look that, for a moment, almost wanted to say something… before retreating back into silent distance.
"She's like a wall," Ren said softly, "Tall, cold, and quiet... But I'm not sure if it's to protect herself or to keep others away... It wasn't like that before..."
Kirito nodded faintly, asking nothing more, but a quiet thoughtfulness emerged in his eyes. Perhaps he felt the same.
Ren suddenly turned to him, this time, he was the one asking, his voice even, "And you? Do you know her?"
Kirito gave a slight, dry smile, but there was no joy in it.
As if he himself didn't know what to call the connection between him and Asuna, or whether it should even be called anything at all.
"Not exactly. But in a world like this…" he said, eyes still on the figure ahead, Asuna's cloak swaying gently with each step, "When someone steps out of the shadows and starts fighting, you automatically remember them. Even if it's just for a moment."
Ren frowned slightly, tilting his head to look at Kirito, eyes tinged with confusion and curiosity.
Sensing the look, Kirito seemed to realize he had let something odd slip out. He blinked, then continued, his voice a bit hesitant, but more sincere:
"We met twice. Both times... not under the best circumstances. She didn't say much. But her eyes were different."
He paused for a moment, as if choosing his words. "Yesterday, I saw her in the labyrinth. Alone. Exhausted."
Ren tilted his body slightly. "Alone?"
Kirito nodded, serious. "Do you know how long she's been in there?"
Ren was silent. A vague number flashed in his mind. Two days?
No, that would already be insane. Who could survive in the labyrinth alone for two days...especially on this floor?
Even so, his mouth unconsciously said, "…Two days?"
Kirito let out a quiet breath, as if about to release a truth even he could barely believe.
"Four. She's been in there for four days straight. No rest, no stepping out. Alone."
Ren froze, his steps slowing without realizing it. A chill crept down his spine. Not from the weather, but from the true meaning behind those numbers.
Four days. Not everyone could survive that. Not everyone would choose that path.
"She's… burning herself out," Ren whispered, almost to himself.
Kirito didn't deny it. He simply looked ahead, where Asuna still walked silently, her figure solitary even among a crowd.
"She replenishes her gear," Kirito said softly, as if recounting something hard to believe, "by carrying five identical swords. No enhancements. No repairs. Just replaces them when they break."
Ren stiffened, his brow furrowing slightly, as if trying to understand how such a bizarre survival method could work.
"What about food?" he asked.
"Just dry rye bread and water," Kirito replied. His tone carried no mockery, more like he was describing some sort of mad ritual. "She doesn't touch anything with buffs or healing effects… I don't think it's to save money. Maybe it's because she doesn't trust them."
Ren was silent. There was a sensation, like thorns pushing through his chest. Not pain… but pressure. The kind of pressure one feels when standing in front of someone who has forced themselves past the limit to the point where fear no longer exists.
Kirito looked straight ahead, his eyes still fixed on Asuna's every step. He spoke, almost in a whisper:
"Do you know what she said when I asked her why she did it?"
Ren shook his head, his gaze never leaving Kirito.
"She only said one thing," Kirito took a deep breath, as if still shaken by the memory. "She said… 'As long as the monsters don't hit me, there's no need to repair my armor.'"
The space between the two seemed to sag, stretched thin by the silence.
Ren turned his head slightly, glancing at Asuna's back as she walked steadily through the crowd, still silent and expressionless.
As if nothing could ever break her down... or perhaps, nothing could hurt her anymore.
"Sounds like a joke..." Ren whispered.
"It's not a joke," Kirito said, this time with certainty. "She believes in it. A belief so cold it's chilling. As if... she'd rather let everything shatter than rely on someone else."
"We talked a bit yesterday too…" Kirito began again, his voice growing quieter, like he was about to share something he hadn't fully processed himself. "And I realized, there are things... I never thought about."
Ren tilted his head, waiting for more. Kirito drew another deep breath before continuing.
After the strategy meeting last night, when everyone had left and only the dim lights and the wind rustling against the cold stone walls remained, Kirito didn't go back to his lodging.
He stayed behind, for reasons he couldn't quite explain. Maybe he was waiting for something, or maybe he just didn't want to return to an empty room too soon.
And then he saw Asuna, sitting quietly in a secluded corner near the city wall, holding a piece of hardened rye bread.
She didn't eat quickly, didn't seem hungry. She just chewed slowly, mechanically, like eating wasn't a need anymore, but merely a ritual to stay alive.
"We only said a few words... like small talk," Kirito said, "but somehow, I ended up inviting her to the place I'm renting. A small house in a farming village far from town."
Ren frowned. "She agreed?"
Kirito gave a small laugh, though it wasn't entirely cheerful. "Yeah. That surprised me more than the upcoming boss fight."
He paused for a moment, looking at Ren as if to make sure he wasn't about to say something foolish, then continued: "Do you know why she agreed? It wasn't because she trusted me, or needed help. She only asked one thing: 'Does it have a bath?'"
Ren widened his eyes, unsure how to respond.
"Just for a bath." Kirito repeated, but this time with a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "She had lived in the labyrinth for four days, barely eating, fighting non-stop, almost no sleep... and all she wanted was to bathe."
Ren stayed silent. There was something caught in his throat, as if words were trapped by a feeling he couldn't yet name.
"You know," Kirito continued, "when she stepped into that bath, I could almost see the armor she wore... not the game armor, but the shell she built to survive... starting to crack. Not because of me, but because for once, she could breathe like a real human being."
The silence returned between them. The footsteps ahead still continued, the scattered chatter from other groups not enough to fill this quiet space.
Ren murmured, almost to himself, "…Some people don't need a grand reason to keep going. Just a reason good enough not to stop."
Kirito gave a small nod.
Ren didn't listen to the rest of the story.
He felt as though he was walking into a light rain, not enough to make him shiver, but enough to feel cold. Kirito might not have noticed, but every word, every image he conjured... was like flipping open a page of memory Ren had never wanted to revisit. A lonely girl, fighting fear, darkness, and herself... that wasn't just Asuna.
Ren didn't know what had happened between Asuna and Mito, but that feeling... the feeling of a bond once so strong it seemed unbreakable, vanishing in a single moment, a single incident, it wasn't unfamiliar to him.
Maybe... what happened to them was the same as what happened between him and someone from his past.
And that, surely... must have hurt.
Just then, Asuna suddenly turned around.
Her eyes swept over the two of them, quick as a casual glance...but Ren felt as if there was something heavy hidden beneath them, a question, a guardedness, or just a fleeting hesitation with no name?
Kirito flinched slightly, missing a step. He quickly turned away, as if afraid something he just said had been read.
Ren didn't. He simply shook his head, unsure if it was for Kirito, for himself, or for the tangled relationship between the three people walking this path together.
Then he quietly kept walking, without looking back.
There was no need to know every story. Some memories, once left behind, perhaps should stay where they are.