Sly Shrewman

A «Sly Shrewman» (悪賢いトガリネズミ人間) is a looter monster found in the catacombs beneath Karluin on the 5th Floor of Aincrad in Sword Art Online. A shrewman steals player items that are dropped on the ground, overwriting the ownership of the item with its «Robbing» skill.

Appearance
A Sly Shrewman is a barely fifty centimetres-tall humanoid creature with bluish skin, a rodent-like extended snout, and large yellow eyes.

Scherzo of Deep Night
After Asuna triggered a trapdoor in the catacombs beneath Karluin and fell to the bottom third floor, dropping her Chivalric Rapier in the process, a Sly Shrewman arrived to the scene, snatched the rapier before Asuna could retrieve it, and immediately began retreating at an unbelievable speed. Although Asuna attempted to pursue the shrewman and had almost caught it, her foot plunged into a puddle at the last moment, breaking her balance and allowing the monster to escape with her rapier.

Several moments later, Asuna attempted to lure the thief by intentionally dropping a necklace on the ground. Once she sheathed her «Iron Rapier», a spare rapier she still had in her inventory, and averted her gaze from the necklace, a shrewman cautiously approached the necklace, but just as it was about to escape with it, Asuna defeated it with an «Oblique». Disappointed that the shrewman did not possess her rapier, Asuna repeated the same trick for the next fifteen minutes, luring three more shrewmen, but neither of them had her rapier, though the last one was carrying a Wad of Paper.

By following the note on the paper, Asuna reached the secret meeting point between Morte and Joe and overheard their plans. Due to a momentary impulse, Asuna lost her balance and kicked a pebble, alerting the two men. To hide her presence, Asuna lured another Sly Shrewman by dropping the Wad of Paper at her feet. The shrewman startled the two men and was subsequently disposed of by Morte, who received Asuna's Chivalric Rapier from the shrewman as a loot, to Asuna's despair. As Joe was inspecting the rapier, Kirito arrived to the scene. While Morte and Joe were focused on him, Asuna dropped the paper again to lure another shrewman that had just spawned, and unleashed a deafening scream just as Joe was about to move the rapier to his left hand. The unexpected scream caused Joe to drop the rapier, which was immediately snatched by the Sly Shrewman. Just as the shrewman was about to retreat, Asuna defeated it with an «Oblique», thus retrieving her rapier.

Trivia

 * A Sly Shrewman is able to react to the player's combat readiness and their focus on a dropped item, thus impeding a player's attempt to lure the monster with bait.