Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld

Saturday June 27, 2026 San Diego 9 Days before the attack on the Ocean Turtle

Leave this to me!

Time's up, huh?

All teams, retreat.

Move away from Grid 1-9.

That would've been the last prey for today, right?

You sure you want to end on a loss, Boss?

Battling an irregular squadron like that won't do much good, training-wise.

We wouldn't want any negative effects to carry over into the actual operation.

Let's go.

Mr. Miller. The men from the NSA have arrived.

Send them in.

Mr. Miller, we'd like to hire you, Glowgen Defense Systems, for a top secret mission.

And the nature of the mission is?

To seize the Soul Translation technology.

What is that, exactly?

It was developed by a Japanese company called Rath,

and it's a machine that can decipher human souls.

Souls?

Decipher them?

That's right.

Using this Soul Translation technology,

Rath has apparently succeeded in not only analyzing human souls, but in cloning them as well.

Should this artificial soul, code-name ALICE, be fully developed,

it could be installed into unmanned Japanese weapons,

which could disrupt the balance of military power in East Asia.

The U.S. needs to take control of that technology before that can happen.

I see.

So, tell me the specifics of this mission.

There's a mega-float for research called the Ocean Turtle, moored near the Izu Islands.

We'd like your people to break into it

and obtain the Soul Translation technology.

That will require a raid on a Japanese ship... one of our allies, you know.

We've made arrangements with the JSDF top brass.

Apparently, the JSDF isn't the monolith it appears to be.

Use whatever methods you want.

Just remember that the U.S. isn't involved in this mission in any way.

Fine.

I'll assemble the team, and lead it myself.

ALICE, your soul will be so sweet.

The Final Load Test

Main Control Room Ocean Turtle 35 minutes after the attack

Critter, you bastard... just try saying that again!

I'll repeat it as many times as you want, Vassago.

Listen up! This console is locked tighter than a pile of dried turds.

I could crunch the numbers on the laptop we brought until you die of old age, and I'd still never crack it!

You're missing the point, you damned four eyes!

You said we got locked out because we took too long to break in!

Hey, hey, all I did was point out a fact.

For someone who hung back cowering during the battle, you sure are cocky!

Okay, that's enough, you two.

There's no time to point fingers at each other.

We have to consider our next move now, all right?

Yeah, but Bro,

this guy needs to be put in his place.

I'm satisfied with what this team's achieved till now.

Our only casualty was Gary getting grazed.

And we succeeded in taking over the control room, our primary objective.

Yeah, but if we're locked out of the control system itself, what's the point?

Our ultimate target, the Lightcube Cluster, is beyond that wall, right?

That's why I'm saying we need to come up with a way to breach that wall.

Still, those JSDF guys won't stay holed up forever.

Once the real soldiers come charging in from this turtle's escort ship—

I was told that the client and the JSDF have a certain deal in place.

Apparently, the naval escort won't make a move for 24 hours after the operation's launched.

So this operation's not just a burglary, then?

All right. Now let's go over the current situation.

It's currently 1447 hours, Japan Standard Time.

Forty minutes have passed since we broke in.

Right now, we're inside the Ocean Turtle's Main Control Room.

Although we've successfully taken over our target facility,

we failed to capture the Rath tech,

and we've been locked out of the system here.

Our next objective is to take over the Sub Control Room.

Brigg, do you think you can cut through the bulkhead door?

It doesn't look too promising.

It's made of cutting-edge composite materials,

and it would be impossible to cut through it within 24 hours using the portable saw we brought.

Hans, what if we used C-4 to blow it open?

I wouldn't recommend it.

The chamber housing the Lightcube Cluster is just beyond that wall.

If we blast open the door, there's no guarantee that the contents of that room would be left unscathed.

The mission we've been tasked with

is to find a single Lightcube out of a mountain of them, and extract it along with its interface.

We already have the cube's unique ID.

Come on,

this scrawny Four Eyes has been giving us this crap about hacking into the Pentagon,

and yet he can't even crack open a flimsy system lock.

Whoa, what a shock.

I just got told off by a gamer who's only fired a gun made of polygons!

You bastard!

Do you guys want to go back empty-handed, and get jeers instead of a bonus?

Are you incompetent enough to be outdone by amateur techs?

Then start thinking!

Prove that those containers sitting on your necks are filled with something other than oatmeal!

The pressure bulkhead leading to the Lightcube Cluster chamber can't be breached.

Meaning that our only option is to control the system from here.

How's it looking?

No chance of logging in with administrator privileges.

About all we can do is peek enviously at the fairyland where the Fluctlights live in such bliss.

Goblins?

Hey, you've done your homework, Captain!

Yeah, but they seem kinda big for goblins.

Those are Hobs. They're Hobgoblins, I bet.

Critter.

Yeah?

Are these monsters part of the system?

Doesn't look that way.

These guys have artificial souls loaded into the Lightcube Cluster above.

They have Fluctlights.

Are you serious?

These Hobgoblins have souls, the same as us?

Do those Lightcubes all contain goblins and orcs like these?

Is our Alice one, too?

Of course not!

This realm called the Underworld...

is divided into the Human Empire, where normal humans live,

and the Dark Territory that lies outside it, which is teeming with monsters.

It's pretty much a given that Alice lives in the Human Empire,

but since it's so gigantic,

there's no way that we'll ever find her by just peeking in like this.

Come on, that's a total no-brainer!

If that's the case, all we have to do is dive into this Human Empire,

and ask whoever we come across, "Hey, do you know a girl named Alice?"

Wow, we have a dumbass here!

What's that, bastard?

Look, there are tens of thousands of people living in the Human Empire.

You really think you can canvas them all on your... own?

Wait. Hold on, hold on! Maybe it doesn't have to be done by one person.

I see.

The accounts set up to log into the Underworld...

It's unlikely that they'd all be Level 1 ordinary citizens.

Isn't that right, Critter?

For the Rath operators to log in and observe, or else control it from inside,

they must be set up with accounts of all ranks and professions.

Hey! How cool is that?

In other words, we should just log in as a general or president or some other big shot,

and order them to smoke out Alice, right?

I don't know, hearing you put it like that...

makes this idea sound really stupid.

Dammit, no good, huh?

They have some hard-core protection on the high-level account logins as well.

Looks like we can only dive into the Human Empire with an ordinary citizen's account.

Damn, what a letdown!

Critter, aren't there any high-level accounts set up outside the Human Empire?

Outside it?

But aren't the chances of Alice being there close to nil?

Well, yes, I guess so.

But it's not as if the borders are totally impenetrable, right?

That's my bro! Thinking outside the box!

In other words, you mean,

go in as general of those monsters and attack, right?

That would get me more fired up, for sure!

A-ha, found it, found it!

All right! No password!

Well, well...

First, here's someone with the rank of Dark Knight.

His Object Control level is... 70! We can work with that!

Hey, not bad!