Kirito has escaped Sword Art Online, the forbidden VRMMORPG of death, and returned to reality. He heads off to find his game partner and lover, Asuna Yuuki. But Asuna never made it back from the nightmare. Lost and desperate, Kirito's only clue to her virtual whereabouts is a mysterious screensho[...]

Having cleared the first and second levels of Aincrad at great cost, Kirito, Asuna, and the rest of the players ascend to Level Three. New challenges await them even as tenuous new allies appear, in the vast forest that encompasses the entire level. Meanwhile, the first player-wide strategy meeting [...]