69novels Page 167
Page 167
"Oh no, he's going to run away..."
Before he could finish speaking, Kotoko Iwanaga came out of the hotel room, stretched out her right hand towards the player who was running away in a panic, and a strange light flashed in her dark purple eyes. Her two pale arms instantly stretched out from the ground and grabbed the player's ankles, causing him to fall to the ground before he could react.
The next second, the five players in the distance only felt a flash before their eyes and did not see clearly what happened. They saw Yuuki Asuna, wearing a deep red cloak, already pressing the tip of her sword against the back of one of the players in the distance.
"Click."
Asagiri broke the arrow in her hand and casually tossed it aside. Then, she looked at the four players standing in the distance, their faces showing fear, and slowly spoke.
"Let's begin the explanation."
The team of four consisted of two female players and two male players. One of the female players was around twenty years old, the archer who had just apologized, and the other was around thirty years old, looking like a white-collar professional woman. The two male players were both in their thirties.
The four players looked more professional than Mr. Ichikawa and his two companions. One male player was carrying a shield and a broadsword, while the female player, who appeared to be around thirty years old, was not carrying a weapon but was wearing a light purple long dress, clearly equipment certified by the system.
After a few seconds of silence, the female player wearing a light purple dress stepped forward and apologized.
"I'm so sorry, I almost hurt you."
"no need to say sorry."
Asagiri waved her hand and said with a light laugh.
"It's not just almost, it's far from it."
Hearing these somewhat arrogant words, the female player didn't think Asagiri was exaggerating. After all, the scene of catching the arrow with her bare hands and the scene after the appearance of the other side's two teammates had already made her realize the difference in strength between the two sides.
"Is such that."
The female player raised her hand, pointed to the player in the distance of the corridor, whose back was being held by the tip of Yuuki Asuna's sword and whose face showed panic, and slowly spoke.
"When we left the room, we saw this guy come out of the next room alone. We asked him if he had any teammates, but he couldn't answer. Then he suddenly started running away. Considering the public hints for this instance, this guy is obviously a suspect, right?"
"You fart!"
Upon hearing the accusation, the player lying on the ground tried to stand up, but felt the pain of the rapier in Asuna Yuuki's hand piercing his flesh. He could only obediently lie on the ground, unable to even turn his head, and could only loudly retort.
"I don't even know what kind of players you four are. How could you not run away when you encounter strangers?! Besides, I tried to go out and find teammates, but I couldn't find any lone players. I even knocked on your room door, but you wouldn't let me in. In the end, I barely survived, and now it's my fault?!"
14
Chapter 14 Parasite.
Hearing the conversation between the two sides, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko had a general understanding of what had happened.
Simply put, the male player was alone during the red carpet period, which aroused the suspicion of the four-person player team. This is reasonable, since there are very few players who enter the dungeon alone. They are either extremely confident and capable, thinking they can clear the dungeon by themselves, or they are so bad that they can't even find a teammate, so they will naturally be suspected by the other players.
"If that's the case..."
Asagiri looked at the male player lying on the ground and said in a calm tone.
"Take out your phone so we can confirm you're a 'living' player."
Upon hearing this, the male player lying on the ground seemed unwilling, after all, the phone was very important to the player, this was equivalent to handing over his life, but at this time he had no other choice but to ask tentatively.
"It's in my pants pocket, may I get it?"
"Take it."
After receiving Asagiri's permission, the male player carefully and gently put his left hand into his pocket. But just as Yuuki Asuna was intently watching his left hand, a curved sword suddenly appeared in his right hand. Then, his body darted forward like a snake, enduring the pain of the sword tip slicing through his back with the flashing light, and with an extremely nimble movement, he flipped up and swung the curved sword at Yuuki Asuna's head.
"clang!"
Asuna Yuuki reacted quickly, raising her Flashing Light to block the attack. Seeing that his attack had no effect, the male player immediately raised his left hand and threw a dart at Asuna Yuuki's neck, but it was blocked by a layer of suddenly appearing black particles.
The very next second, a whooshing sound suddenly rang out in the arena.
The black arrow made of ebony pierced the air and struck the male player precisely between the eyebrows, the tip and shaft penetrating more than half of his skull.
Just as the four players in the distance breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this scene, Kotoko Iwanaga frowned slightly and immediately offered a reminder.
"Violet, watch out!"
Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's reminder, Asuna Yuuki, though unsure why, completely trusted her judgment and immediately retreated. Just as she began to retreat, several fleshy tentacles suddenly emerged from the chest of the male player whose head had been pierced by an arrow.
"Sword skills..."
As Yuuki Asuna retreated, she had already met the conditions for being in a high-speed movement state and had also completed the charging of her sword technique.
"Prickly light!"
Asuna Yuuki unleashed a shimmering light from her sword tip, which shone with a dazzling brilliance, forming a beam of light that pierced directly through the player's head.
Even so, the tentacles extending from the opponent's chest did not stop, and his left hand even rose up, aiming at Yuuki Asuna who had just used a sword technique.
Seeing the dark green ball of light emerging from the opponent's palm, Asagiri still did not make a move. Instead, Kotoko Iwanaga raised her hand and condensed the black particles into a protective shield, directly protecting Asuna Yuuki's body.
"Zizzizi..."
The moment the dark green orb touched the black protective shield, it emitted puffs of white smoke and produced a sound like the black particles being corroded by a liquid similar to sulfuric acid.
"The Grip of the Underworld"
As Kotoko Iwanaga finished speaking, a huge, pale ghost hand suddenly appeared, its five fingers reaching out to pinch the player whose head had been destroyed beyond recognition. The player seemed to try to move to dodge, but a spinning battle axe was already close to him.
"boom!!"
As if it had been rehearsed beforehand, the player who was about to move forward to avoid being grabbed by the ghost hand was struck in the chest by a heavy battle axe. His body flew backward and landed squarely in the palm of the ghost hand. Then, the ghost hand's pale fingers clenched tightly and crushed him into powder.
Just before his body fell into the ghostly hand, the fleshy tentacles on his chest sprang out, twisted and wriggled on the carpet a few times, and then became shriveled and dull as if their life force had been drained.
The four players who witnessed the entire battle in the distance all showed expressions of horror. The female player in the lead had the same expression, but what shocked her the most was not the strength displayed by Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko, but Asagiri, who stood there quietly and had not made a move from beginning to end.
Why didn't the player in the long black trench coat help his teammates?
Because he had absolute confidence in his three teammates and that they could take down the player who was possessed by something, he was wary of his own side.
Conversely, why were those three teammates able to entrust their backs to this player with peace of mind?
This shows that they completely believed in the other party's strength, and that this player in black alone was enough to withstand the sudden attack from their four people.
and……
Was what I just saw really the full strength of this player team?
Impossible. Would an elite squad that remains vigilant against other players even in such a critical situation reveal its full strength to other players? Absolutely not.
The female player pondered carefully. If her team had encountered this situation, although they would have been able to defeat the possessed player in the end, someone on her side would definitely have been injured, and they wouldn't have been able to handle it as easily as the team in front of them.
The difference in strength between the two sides is self-evident.
"that……"
Seeing the female player's expression suddenly become cautious, Asagiri simply waved her hand casually.
"You can leave now."
"Okay, thank you."
The female player thanked them first, then quickly led her three teammates away, as she really didn't want to continue facing such a terrifying team of players.
After the other party left, the door to room 7011 slowly opened, and Mr. Ichikawa walked out with a fawning smile on his face.
"Sorry, sorry, we didn't come out to help..."
"No need to apologize. Without a tacit understanding, we will only hinder each other. Moreover, our cooperation agreement does not state that we need your help in the battle."
Asagiri replied calmly at first, then walked to the few shriveled fleshy tentacles and said softly.
"This is what appeared in the hallway when the carpet turned red."
"Was that lone player infected by this thing...?"
Kotoko Iwanaga poked the withered tentacle on the ground with her cane, her brows furrowing slightly.
"When this thing is outside, I can sense the strange aura it emits, but when it is hidden inside a player's body, I can't detect anything unusual. Moreover, after it parasitizes a player, it not only gives that player monster-like vitality, but also allows that player to use the player's original inventory and skills. It should also be able to control the actions of the parasitized player. Otherwise, in the situation just now, after the player broke free of control, he should have chosen to run away instead of attacking."
Upon hearing this, Asuna Yuuki tentatively inquired.
"I remember he was pretending the whole time, but when we asked him to take out his phone, he suddenly attacked. So... can we check if a player has been parasitized by the player status displayed on the phone's eye icon app? If they've been parasitized, it shows as dead; if they haven't, it shows as the player on that phone hasn't died?"
"Hard to say."
Asagiri shook her head, observing the player's corpse, and said softly.
"After all, the player can use the skills and inventory that the parasitized player can use. Perhaps in the system's judgment, the parasitized player is still in a 'alive' state and cannot be judged by clicking the eye icon of the app on the phone."
Asuna Yuuki asked curiously, somewhat puzzled.
"Then he could clear himself of suspicion just by taking out his phone, right?"
"They might be trying to mislead us."
Asagiri crouched down and reached into the player's pants pocket, only to find that there was nothing inside.
"Don't forget, this parasitic tentacle might just be a small part of a huge and bizarre entity. Its behavior logic is different from that of an individual; it can sacrifice itself for the main body's plan. This thing has no so-called will to survive. There was no cell phone on this guy's body; perhaps it was hidden somewhere during the escape. There's no need to waste time searching. Let's think about our next move."
Listening to Asagiri and the others' discussion, Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates were filled with admiration.
Indeed, it wasn't just their strength that was lacking; there was also a clear gap between their intellect and that of their opponents.
The things that Asagiri and the others had just analyzed were not difficult for experienced players to discover. The key was the speed at which they organized and analyzed the information and finally obtained useful intelligence. They had completed the entire process of organizing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions in less than thirty seconds.
Moreover, it wasn't just in combat; even in areas like reasoning and analysis, the four had a clear division of labor...
Wait a moment.
four people?
Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates were stunned for a moment, then looked at each other, both appearing somewhat bewildered.
When did the fourth person appear?
When they turned around again to confirm, they found that the fourth person had disappeared without a trace, as if he had never been there at all.
what's the situation?
Did I see a ghost?
15
Chapter 15 Talks.
"The next steps..."
Asagiri pondered the available information in her mind, and after a few seconds made a decision, speaking softly.
"Clear the seventh floor. Only allow us and Mr. Ichikawa's team to stay here."
"Yes, that's definitely the right thing to do."
Kotoko Iwanaga nodded in agreement. After all, everyone had just witnessed how difficult it was to kill a player possessed by fleshy tentacles. What would be fatal to an ordinary player was insignificant to them. Only by completely crushing the body into powder and forcing the fleshy tentacles inside to detach could they eliminate the opponent without fail.
"Doing so does temporarily reduce the risk, but..."
Asuna Yuuki's perspective on the issue was clearly more far-sighted, she said with a slight furrow of her brow.
"If no player on the other floors can successfully stop the parasitism of those fleshy tentacles, even if we and Mr. Ichikawa's team on this floor are not parasitized, as time goes by, the parasitized players on the other floors may gather together and come to this floor to attack us."
"That's definitely possible..."
Kotoko Iwanaga leaned against the wall of the corridor, a thoughtful look in her eyes, and murmured to herself.
"Should we kill all the other players in this instance...? No, even for us, the risk is too great. Even if we could eliminate the other players, we would consume a lot of physical and mental energy. Given that we are not certain that the only danger in this instance is parasites, making such a choice would not be wise..."
Listening to the conversation between Kotoko Iwanaga, Asagiri, and Asuna Yuuki, Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates, who were standing at the door of room 7011, were all dumbfounded.
Clearing out seven floors is already quite an achievement. After all, the other players are not easy to deal with. Unless they are facing an invincible powerhouse, they won't just obediently leave.
Judging from the tone of these three people, it seemed like this was an easy task. The girl in the long dress was even considering whether to kill all the other players in this instance. Moreover, what she meant was not "it is definitely impossible", but "it is not necessarily possible".
Just how terrifying is the strength of this player team in front of us?
"Could I use 'that'?"
Just then, Asuna Yuuki suddenly seemed to have thought of something and looked at Asagiri to ask a question.
"If we use 'that' to directly eliminate the source of this dungeon's strangeness..."
"It can't be done."
Asagiri shook her head, knowing that the "that" Yuuki Asuna was referring to was her ability to eliminate the enemy at its source, "Supreme Magic Bullet".
"That's a concept-based ability. Well... to give you an example, it's like the console in a game. First of all, I don't know what the source of this hotel's strangeness is, just like not knowing the enemy's code in a game and not being able to input it into the console."