The black swordsman looked down at Silica through the gaps between his fingers and answered: “...No, I didn’t.” They went through five more battles to get used to the monsters before increasing their pace; although she almost fainted when a monster that looked like a sea anemone grabbed her with its sticky tentacles. Kirito didn’t participate much in the battles and mostly just supported Silica, occasionally blocking attacks when Silica was in danger. The party experience is divided according to the amount of damage each party member dealt to the monster. Since she was defeating high-leveled monsters, she also gained experience points several times faster than usual and quickly rose a level. As they kept following the endless red brick road, a bridge that led over a small stream appeared. Beyond it they could see a large hill, and the path seemed to lead to its top. “That’s the «Hill of Memories».” “There doesn’t appear to be any forks.” “Yeah. We just have to keep going up, so there’re no worries about getting lost. But they say that there are lots of monsters. Let’s be careful.” “Okay!” Soon, soon she could revive Pina. When she thought of this, her footsteps hastened naturally.