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 for 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.

Stage.003
Kuro recalled her time in SAO, and that she was untrusting of anyone around her at that time. Despite that, a girl seemed to follow her, and even obtained a «Ring of Angle's Whisper» for Kuro, as a sign of their bond. Following a promise, Kuro now wished to obtain the same item in New Aincrad.

After following giant foot-prints, Silica and the girls ended up at a gate-way. Silica pondered about Kuro's safety and Leafa assured her that Kuro was strong enough, having taken down the Mid-Boss earlier. After a short discussion, the girls were ready, and Lisbeth pushed the doors open. Inside, they found an innumerable amount of slime monsters, and a count-down. Kuro shouted out, demanding to know why they followed her, as the girls charged into the fray, attacking the slimes. Silica immediately made her way to Kuro's side. As the two's backs met to fight the monsters that surrounded them, Kuro tried to remind her that she intended to go alone, but Silica cut her off, apologizing. She claimed that she could not help herself, even knowing that Kuro wished to fight alone. Silica then told Kuro that she wished to be her strength, and that she believed that her resemblance to Kirito was fate. Kuro tried to deny her help, but heard a scream from Lisbeth, as the slimes were able to tear through their equipment with acid.

Silica called out to Lisbeth, right as Kuro saved her from a slime that was about to attack her from behind. Kuro decided to accept their help, and asked Silica to attack from the sides with the other girls, while she took them on from from the front. Silica agreed and went to join Lisbeth and Leafa. Kuro realized how similar Silica was to her friend, being kindhearted, and decided to protect her.

Silica, Leafa, and Lisbeth continued their fight against the slimes, even as their acid reduced the durability of their armor and equipment. As Lisbeth was about to take another hit, Kuro intercepted a slime's attack, before destroying it. Silica noticed that Kuro had been hurt the most, as she had been covering for the three of them. Silica wondered if they would be able to hold out long enough, before noticing that the last slime appeared. Kuro dashed forward, aiming to finish it, as she slashed through surrounding slimes. Silica tried to call her back, but Kuro continued forward. After only three more were left, Kuro used a Sword Skill to attack, but her attack did not reach, and she was left stunned by the delay after using a strong move. As the slime was ready to attack, Kuro had a vision of her old friend intercepting the attack, but this turned out to be a flashback, from when her friend previously saved her life in SAO, and in-fact it was Silica who saved her this time. Silica fell back onto Kuro, as Lisbeth and Leafa rushed to their side to take down the slimes. Meanwhile, Silica complained that it hurt when the three slimes hit at the same time, and then noticed that her HP was almost gone. She apologized to Kuro for bumping into her, but noticed that she was crying. Kuro was in shock, seeming to have a PTSD episode, where she recalled her friend, "Rossa" sacrificing herself for Kuro.

Silica realized that she was right about Kuro having lost someone, and tried to comfort Kuro, saying that she was alright. Lisbeth asked if the two were OK, and Silica confirmed that she was, but was not sure about Kuro. Lisbeth suggested that it would be best to return to the city and do the quest again. Leafa agreed, but noticed that the count-down was up. Suddenly the room changed and that they were automatically teleported to the boss room, where they were greeted by the quest's boss.

Stage.004
The girls were immediately shocked to find themselves teleported to the boss room, however, noticing the position that they were in, had no time to stop and work out a plan due to there being no escape. Leafa tried to heal them immediately, but she was interrupted by the boss. Kuro then threw herself at the boss to protect the other girls, but she was thrown off by the boss. Seeing this, Silica started thinking that Kuro may break at any moment, and told Lisbeth and Leafa how Kuro had momentarily mistaken her for someone else earlier. Lisbeth then took charge of the girls, ordering Leafa to focus on healing whilst she draws the boss' attention, telling Silica to take care of Kuro. Lisbeth then charged and attacked the boss whilst Leafa healed her.

Silica ran over to Kuro, who yelled at her to take the others and run as she fought the boss alone. She told Silica she wanted more power, to be as strong as Kirito, to which Silica replied saying that was wrong. Kirito did not save the players of SAO on his own, telling Kuro that, according to him, the ones who cleared SAO were all of those who lived in it: those supporting the lower and middle floors, the comrades who fought with him on the front lines, and that precious person who stayed by his side and thst clearing the game was only possible after all those people had put their strength together. After telling Kuro this, Silica invited her to join the party which Kuro, at first hesitated, but after Pina healed her with her healing breath and made Kuro laugh due to Silica's embarrassment, she accepted. The girls then became more determined to finish the battle.

Trivia

 * The manga was launched after fans and the original author campaigned that the three heroines did not have many appearances in the original light novels.
 * Before the manga release, Silica and Lisbeth were drawn on the back of volume 10 of the light novel, holding signs with the words "More" and "Deban", which means "More appearance (wanted)" while on the back of this manga volume, Silica, Lisbeth and Leafa were holding signs with the words "Yatta! Deban Da!", which mean "Hooray! Appearance!".

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