Sword Art Online - Girls Ops Volume 01

Sword Art Online - Girls Ops (ソードアート・オンライン ガールズ・オプス) is a manga spin-off series of the Sword Art Online light novel series by Kawahara Reki. It follows the adventures of Kirigaya Suguha (Leafa), Ayano Keiko (Silica) and Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth) in both the real world and New ALfheim Online. The ongoing manga is illustrated by Nekobyō Neko and published as part of the bi-monthly Dengeki Bunko Magazine.

Stage.001
After waking up from a dream, Ayano Keiko was changing to go to school, when she noticed an announcement on her portable terminal. During lunch time at school, she sat down and talked with Rika about the quest that was recently added to New Aincrad and rewarded the «Ring of Angel's Whisper» upon completion. Attracted by the story of this adventure and the reward item, they decided to form a small party to complete the quest. As Kazuto was busy with his study camp and Asuna with her family affairs, Suguha was the only one available. After being told about the quest, she agrees to accompany them on the journey. After preparations are complete, all 3 of the girls entered ALO.

After finding the quest NPC, Suguha is shocked at how much the NPC Angel was different from her ideals. Since the girls had completed the first part of the quest, the angel told them to defeat the demonic beast living in the «Abandoned Tower». Along the way to the tower, Silica and Lisbeth started talking about the same quest they had completed in Sword Art Online and how the "demonic beast" turned out to be a giant fluffy bunny with wings, as well as accidentally spoiling quest details to Leafa, who was completing the quest the first time. As they entered the tower, they realized that the monster in the tower was no longer a fluffy bunny, due to Ymir deciding to make the quest after the midway point more difficult. The girls also noticed that a player was already fighting the creature and, after seeing his appearance, assumed that the player was Kirito.

Stage.002
The girls watched as "Kirito" fought the monster, and noticed that his style was slightly different from Kirito's usual style, as he fought parrying with one hand, and attacking with the other. The person's avatar was similar to Kirito's from SAO, however the girls soon realised that it was not Kirito, but someone else entirely. The player inquired whether the girls were alright. The player revealed that she was also an old SAO player and that the player had joined ALO after hearing about New Aincrad.

As Silica was talking, she tripped and fell into the players arms. After an awkward situation, the player revealed that she was actually a female player. She then told the other girls that her name was Kuro and that she took her name from Kirito's nickname, «The Black Swordsman» (黒の剣士). Kuro then explained that she took up a dual-wielding style out of admiration of Kirito. When the girls got to the Angel's Rose Garden, they found it destroyed, with evidence that a giant had raided the garden. As they looked around, they found a feather which, when used, activated a message left by the Tsundere Angel, who told them to leave the garden, as they had failed the test. The girls then headed off to follow the giant, remembering that the quest past its midpoint was said to be changed since «SAO». Kuro left the group, stating that she would like to go on alone. After Kuro left, the girls decided to go after her, as Silica believed that something was weighing Kuro down and that it was not just a coincidence that she looked like Kirito.

Trivia

 * The manga was launched after fans campaigned that the three heroines did not have many appearances in the original light novels.