Sword Art Online Alicization Episode 03

The End Mountains (果ての山脈) is the third episode of the Sword Art Online Alicization anime adaptation. It aired on October 20, 2018.

Plot
On the 20th Day of the 3rd Month, Kirito was aroused from sleep by Selka Zuberg early in the morning. After breakfast, Kirito joined Eugeo at the Gigas Cedar, mulling about the need to fell the tree to get the boy's help to reach the central city in the empire. During a lunch break, Kirito learnt about Selka being Alice Zuberg's sister and rumours about recent goblin sightings in the area. The conversation eventually led to the topic of Sacred Arts, which prompted Kirito's curiosity on the possibility of a more effective way to cut the tree. While Eugeo denied the existence of a better tool than the Dragon Bone Axe in the village, the boy recalled having an item that was more powerful than the axe.

Some time later, Eugeo brought the Blue Rose Sword to Kirito. After explaining the legend behind the sword and that he had carried the sword from the Northern Cave to a storage shed near the tree in a span of three months two years prior in hopes of being able to use it one day, the boy offered Kirito to try swinging it. As such, Kirito decided to test the sword on the Gigas Cedar; while the self-proclaimed swordsman was able to cut into the tree and deal damage to it, the heaviness of the sword prevented him from hitting the existing cut on the tree, thus reducing the effectiveness of the slash. During Eugeo's turn chopping the tree with the axe, Kirito investigated the status of the sword, discovering that its class outranked his Object Control Authority.

That evening, while mulling about the Artificial Fluctlights' aversion to breaking the rules, the Axiom Church that created the rules, and Alice, who managed to violate them, during a bath back at the church, Kirito heard Selka outside the bathroom and decided to request her to answer some of his questions. Minutes later, Kirito returned to his room, where Selka was waiting for him. When Kirito broached the topic of Alice, he learnt from the girl that Eugeo had stopped smiling ever since Alice was arrested, while the other villagers began overwhelming her with their great expectations of her as Alice's sister. Just as Kirito finished comforting the girl to just be herself, the church bells rang, prompting Selka to take her leave. Just before leaving the room, Selka enquired about the reason for Alice's arrest, learning about her sister's entering the Dark Territory.

While washing his face the following morning, Kirito was approached by Sister Azariya, from whom he learnt that Selka had been missing the entire morning. After breakfast, Kirito hurried to meet with Eugeo to ask if he had seen her. During their conversation, Kirito recalled his conversation with Selka the previous evening and realised that she could have travelled to the Mountain Range at the Edge. Alarmed by this realisation, the two boys rushed to the Northern Cave to find her. While travelling through the cave, the two heard a scream ahead and hurried to investigate it. When they reached a large room inside the cave, the duo found that Selka had been abducted by a group of goblins. Upon noticing the girl, Eugeo shouted her name, unintentionally alerting the goblins to their presence. As the monsters approached the boys with the intent to kill them, Eugeo succumbed to terror.

New Characters

 * Ugachi

Locations

 * Rulid Village
 * Church
 * Gigas Cedar
 * Mountain Range at the Edge

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Volume 9, Chapter 1, Part 3-4


 * In the novel, Kirito rose from the bed without the need for Selka to forcefully remove the covers from his bed.
 * Kirito's thoughts and remarks about his experience in Underworld feeling like a dream were omitted.
 * The scene where Kirito began changing from his sleepwear to his outdoor clothing was omitted.
 * The anime did not include the scene where Kirito checked the Durability of his tunic, postulating that the parameter summarised the measure of item degradation, as the world did not simulate bacteria.
 * The scene where Kirito contemplated on his situation and course of actions while washing his face before breakfast was omitted.
 * The scene where Kirito met Eugeo in town after breakfast and learnt that the only clock in Eugeo's world had been destroyed, forcing people to use Divine Objects known as Bells of Time Telling that automatically play chimes at half our intervals, was omitted.
 * In the novel, Kirito contemplated about getting Eugeo's help while still in the village, rather than at Eugeo's workplace.
 * In the novel, the Gigas Cedar scene began with Kirito, rather than Eugeo, swinging the Dragonbone Axe at the tree.
 * The anime did not show Kirito salivating at the description of Alice's pies due to having suppressed memories of what the pies tasted like.
 * In the novel, Kirito already knew about Alice's Sacred Task when he asked Eugeo about it.
 * During the conversation at the Gigas Cedar scene, the anime omitted mentions of: Sister Azariya having been reluctant to take a new apprentice after Alice was apprehended by an Integrity Knight; Eugeo's remarks about Selka being a timid girl before Alice was apprehended, and that the villagers were now all expecting Selka to be as gifted as Alice, causing her to move to the church to work even harder than Alice to meet the expectations.
 * Kirito's contemplation that the epidemic in the village had to be an intentional strain placed on the village by an outside force, as the simulation did not have actual bacteria or viruses, was omitted.
 * In the novel, Eugeo listed several other issues before mentioning the goblins.
 * Eugeo's explanation on how Durability mechanics worked in the world were omitted.
 * Kirito's contemplation on what would happen if he were to die in Underworld, and his decision to refrain from using death as a way to return to the real world unless it was his last resort, were omitted.
 * The anime did not show Kirito comparing the weight of the Blue Rose Sword to that of his cousin, Suguha.
 * In the novel, Eugeo did not give a clear reason why he had retrieved the Blue Rose Sword from the cave. Additionally, Eugeo did not offer Kirito to attempt to swing the sword.
 * Kirito's attempt at using the Horizontal Sword Skill from SAO did not cause the Blue Rose Sword to glow in the novel.
 * Kirito's musings about pain in Underworld being unlike the pain in the games he had played, as games used a Pain Absorber system, were omitted.
 * The anime did not mention that Kirito had been bathing with four other boys before they left the bath early, and that Selka and Sister Azariya had already had their bath.
 * During the bathing scene, Kirito thought about Asuna and his family being worried about his disappearance, the irregularity of his presence in Underworld with memories of the real world, and his desire to make his way through the world without a guidebook in the novel version of the story, rather than about the Axiom Church, the Taboo Index, and Alice.
 * The scene of Selka offering Kirito some well water before their conversation at his room began was omitted.
 * In the novel, when Kirito asked Selka about her sister, the girl attempted to pretend she did not actually have a sister, before Kirito informed her that he had heard about Alice from Eugeo. Additionally, Selka revealed that she had believed that Eugeo had forgotten about her sister, just like all the other villagers pretending that she had never existed.
 * During the conversation with Selka, Kirito's thoughts about Eugeo and his decision to help the boy find Alice were omitted.
 * In the novel, Kirito's remark about Selka liking Eugeo came when he saw her dejection after he mentioned that Eugeo still cared a lot about Alice, rather than after Selka described Eugeo as being alone.
 * The anime omitted Kirito's speculations on Selka's whereabouts in his conversation with Sister Azariya.
 * Eugeo's concern that Selka would try to pursue Alice if she knew why Alice was arrested by Deusolbert Synthesis Seven, which was why he had been reluctant to tell the girl about her sister's crime, was omitted.
 * Like in Alicization Episode 01, the System Call for generating a light source was changed from "Lit Small Rod" into "Generate Luminous Element. Adhere."
 * Kirito enquired about being able to cast Sacred Arts himself when he saw Eugeo using it to create a light source in the novel.
 * In the novel, the scene where Kirito shared his plan on how to prevent Selka's arrest if she were to break the Taboo Index took place before the two boys had reached the cave, rather than inside it. Additionally, Eugeo also mentioned Selka's Sacred Task would prevent her from proceeding with such a plan, as well as the fact that Selka would not be able to break a clause from the Taboo Index in the first place, unlike her sister.
 * In the novel, Eugeo and Kirito heard a strange sound and smelled a fire burning before they heard Selka's scream.
 * In the novel, the goblins were alerted to Eugeo and Kirito's presence when the nearest goblin happened to notice the two, rather because of Eugeo's shout. Additionally, Kirito made eye contact with the goblin, which allowed him to realise, to his terror, that the goblins possessed Fluctlights as well.

Errors

 * The window for the Blue Rose Sword reused assets from the window of the Gigas Cedar. However, several parameters of the window were not adjusted to account for this: the window classifies the sword as a tree, and it shows the sword's maximum durability as 320,826, which is the maximum Durability of the Gigas Cedar, rather than the sword.