A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

Page 62

"I feel I can trust her."

Kato Megumi twirled the dagger in her hand with practiced ease. After all, she and Yuuki Asuna had been frequently seeking special training from Ashikaga-sensei lately, which naturally increased their proficiency with weapons.

“I think we can trust her because if she were really in cahoots with that crazy Mita, there would be no need for her to wait for us here and warn us that there is danger in the room. According to the route planned by the kind Mita, this area is the only way to the ‘core’.”

"Kind Mita also said that Crazy Mita did not know the route to the 'core', which is why she imprisoned her. Therefore, it is unlikely that Crazy Mita set up an ambush here in advance."

"The most important point is that this short-haired Miss Mita just offered a method to identify a failed work, but after the Leader verified it using this method, all three Mitas around us passed the test. If the short-haired Miss Mita is our enemy, why not take this opportunity to deliberately fabricate a verification method that could cause infighting among us?"

“Even if we don’t believe her immediately, it should at least make us suspicious of the three Mitas around us. But that’s not the case. So, I think we can trust her for now.”

Hearing Kato Megumi's words, Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko were both somewhat surprised, but what surprised them was not the intelligence and analytical ability that Kato Megumi displayed.

"Phantom, I didn't know you could say so much in one go?"

Kato Megumi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said softly.

"I just prefer a concise and clear way of speaking, it's not that I have poor language skills. Please don't have any unfounded misunderstandings about me, it will bother me a lot."

After saying that, Kato Megumi looked at Asagiri, who was standing there, and said in a gentle tone.

"Leader, twenty meters... should we use that?"

Asagiri shook her head: "No."

Kato Megumi nodded: "Okay."

Neither Asuna Yuuki nor Kotoko Iwanaga showed any surprise, but the four Mitas – Cute Mita, Kind Mita, Hat Mita, and Short-Haired Mita – were completely bewildered, having no idea what Asagiri and Megumi Kato were talking about.

Twenty meters, as Short-Haired Mita said, is the distance from entering the room until reaching the ladder that can be climbed.

Even walking normally, thirty seconds is more than enough time to cover this distance.

Kato Megumi's new skill, "Touch of Nothingness," allows her to share her unique talent effect with others by touching them and consuming a portion of her mental and physical energy. The effect lasts for a maximum of thirty seconds.

Even if you just walk briskly, thirty seconds is more than enough time to cover a distance of twenty meters.

However, including the short-haired Mita, there were a total of eight people present. This meant that if everyone wanted to sneak over, Kato Megumi would have to use "Touch of Nothingness" seven times in a row, and then she would have to activate the effect of her exclusive talent, which would also consume some of her physical and mental energy.

After all that, even if she didn't die suddenly on the spot, she wouldn't be far from it.

more importantly……

Before encountering the kind-hearted Mita, Asagiri, Kato Megumi, Yuuki Asuna, and Iwanaga Kotoko, four high-level players who had cleared the dungeon multiple times, had already guessed Crazy Mita's plan and her hiding place.

Furthermore, the four of them tacitly agreed on a plan to clear the level simply by exchanging glances. The plan required Kato Megumi to use "Touch of Nothingness," and it could only be used after reaching the core area.

……

five minutes later.

"Are you all ready?"

Short-haired Mita took a deep breath and looked at the door in front of her, a look of tension creeping onto her face.

She held the doorknob with one hand and took Asagiri's hand with the other. Asagiri, who was in second place, took Kotoko Iwanaga's hand. Following her were Cute Mita, Megumi Kato, Kind Mita, Hat Mita, and Asuna Yuuki, who was in last place because she was the strongest fighter besides Asagiri and needed to free up one hand to equip the Exorcist's Longsword.

The plan was simple: short-haired Mita led the way, the group lined up in a row, followed the direction of the person in front, and then climbed the ladder one by one.

However, even with such a simple plan, an unexpected problem still arose.

"Zizzizi..."

After the eight people entered the area near the entrance one by one, the door suddenly slammed shut with a bang, accompanied by the sound of electricity, and the originally dark space instantly became as bright as day.

What appeared before everyone was a spacious hall covered with tiles, somewhat resembling a bathhouse. About twenty meters ahead, there was indeed a ladder, similar to a fire escape, leading straight up.

However, as the lights brightened, hundreds of creatures appeared before the crowd, their shells brownish-yellow, their joints connected by black rubber, and their pupils marked by two dark pits, resembling human figures.

"Click..."

Hundreds of failed attempts, their eyes glowing crimson, gazed at the group of people standing at the entrance.

"The light, why did the light suddenly turn on..."

Short-haired Mita seemed completely unprepared for this situation, her body trembling slightly with tension, but she still managed to comfort her.

"It's alright, as long as we keep an eye on them, they won't be able to move..."

Just as the short-haired Mita was speaking, a terrifying scene appeared that made her pupils shrink in disbelief.

Even though they were being watched, the group of failed attempts still surrounded them from all directions, their movements not only not stopping, but even becoming faster.

Kind-hearted Mita's expression changed, and she immediately questioned the short-haired Mita.

"Hey, what's going on here!?"

"I...I don't know..."

Compared to the four panicked individuals, whose eyes were filled with fear and unease, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and the others remained extremely calm, as if they had anticipated this unexpected event.

"Let's get into battle mode."

"it is good."

Kotoko Iwanaga responded softly, then raised her hand to cover her right eye, staring at the eye of the nearest failed attempt, and activated her skill "Cursed Gaze".

However, after she activated her skill, the failed attempt did not slow down at all, as if it was completely unaffected. On the contrary, Kotoko Iwanaga herself felt dizzy.

"Leader, their mental resistance seems to be very high!"

Kotoko Iwanaga's skill feedback is divided into three types. The first type is that she successfully activates the skill and interferes with the enemy's mind. The second type is that the enemy's mental strength is higher than hers, causing her to suffer a backlash from mental strength. The third type is that she encounters an enemy who is immune to curse attribute attacks, in which case her skill has no effect, but she will not suffer a backlash from the skill either.

"Then we can't use Alice."

Alice's exclusive skill, although it is an instant-death attack with a curse attribute, is like Kotoko Iwanaga's "Cursed Gaze" in that it requires a mental strength test first. Therefore, it is ineffective against the group of failed attempts with extremely high mental resistance in front of her.

Kotoko Iwanaga's information, obtained through her skills, allowed Asagiri to avoid the unnecessary cost of summoning Alice and activating her exclusive skill.

"It doesn't matter, they're just a bunch of puppets."

A black gun-shaped summoner appeared in Asagiri's right hand, which she pointed at her temple.

"Persona, Human Asura".

The moment the human demon appeared, the black gun-shaped summoner in Asagiri's hand disappeared, replaced by a rope dart wrapped with a metal chain around his forearm.

"Finally, the fun part is about to begin."

Upon seeing this, Hat Mita immediately took out his hand axe.

"Mr. Player, let me help you..."

Before Hat Mita could finish speaking, they saw the human Shura stride forward, grabbing one of the failed creations' heads with each hand. His shadow-black fingers clenched quickly, crushing their hard heads into pieces.

Asagiri, the user of Persona, was not idle either. She threw a rope dart with her right hand, which pierced the head of a failed creation. Then, she slightly turned her body to dodge the attack of another failed creation. Her left hand quickly reached out and grabbed the neck of the other creation. Golden light flashed in her eyes. Then, she threw the other creation to the ground with one hand.

"boom!!!"

The hard tile floor cracked due to the sudden impact.

The next second, Asagiri didn't give the failed attempt a chance to get up at all, and directly stomped on the other's head until it was smashed.

Asuna Yuuki, who also stepped forward to meet the enemy, was not idle either. Her exorcist sword pierced through the chest of one of the failed creations. Then, with a movement so fast that it left afterimages, she instantly appeared in front of another failed creation and pierced through its head between its eyebrows.

Watching the two of them rampage like wild beasts charging into a flock of sheep, short-haired Mita was dumbfounded and looked at hat-wearing Mita hesitantly.

"This...it seems we don't need to help..."

102

Chapter 102 The Miniature Goalkeeper.

At this moment, short-haired Mita finally understood why Asagiri was so calm when she entered the room.

For ordinary people, a failed creation with a sturdy body, outstanding functions, and extremely strong offensive capabilities is indeed terrifying. But in front of this player and his companions, the so-called failed creation is as weak as an ordinary human being.

This could not be called a contest at all; it was a massacre.

"careful!"

Just then, Hat Mita noticed two failed attempts lunging at Iwanaga Kotoko from the side. Her expression changed instantly, and she immediately grabbed her hand axe and stood in front of Iwanaga Kotoko, gritting her teeth and thinking that even if she got hurt, she absolutely could not let Mr. Player's companion get hurt.

Kotoko Iwanaga, however, remained calm, leaning on her cane with one hand and even having the leisure to raise the other to adjust the white beret she was wearing.

The next second, a figure appeared behind the two failed attempts.

"Boom."

The sharp rapier and the deep purple dagger severed the necks of the two failed attempts from behind. Their hard heads fell to the ground, rolling limply, before their bodies slowly collapsed.

Thanks a lot, Phantom!

Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga's relaxed and smiling face, Megumi Kato, holding a Western-style longsword in her right hand and a dark purple dagger in her left, spoke calmly.

"As expected, with you and Leader present, my talent can be used more effectively. Even though these puppets have high mental resistance, they didn't notice my presence. This can be considered a combination technique in another sense."

For some reason, Kotoko Iwanaga, just by standing there quietly, would attract the attention of many failed works, and would even bypass Asagiri, Shura, and Asuna Yuuki in front of her, and choose to attack her instead.

In gaming terms, Kotoko Iwanaga has a built-in taunt aura; even without dealing damage or using skills, she will still draw the monster's aggro.

This should have been considered a drawback, especially when facing an enemy like Failure, who is immune to mental attacks.

However, when combined with Kato Megumi's unique talent, a wonderful chemical reaction occurred.

Kato Megumi only needs to reduce her own presence, and the enemy's attention will be completely drawn to Iwanaga Kotoko and the four Mita standing there. At this time, she can use assassin techniques such as flanking, assassination, and surprise attack to deal the highest output with the least amount of stamina.

The passive ability of the special profession "Shadow Dancer" will also restore her mental and physical strength, which is more than enough to make up for the consumption of her exclusive talent.

Simply put, this is pure, unadulterated fun.

But the one who felt the most satisfied wasn't Kato Megumi, but...

"bring it on!"

Asagiri wrapped the metal chain of the rope dart around the neck of a failed creation. Ignoring the creature's violent struggles, she slowly pierced the sharp rope dart into the failed creation's skull with her other hand. Then, she dug two fingers into the failed creation's empty eye sockets and forcefully pulled the head off. With a forceful throw like a baseball, she hurled the head in her hand, smashing it into the face of another failed creation not far away.

"boom!!!"

The two sturdy heads collided with a dull thud.

"Interesting, really interesting."

Asagiri revealed a slight smile, and a tall, dark figure of a Shura stood behind him, the eerie red patterns on his body becoming even brighter.

"This is the most interesting part of the game."

Hearing Asagiri's smiling words and seeing his absorbed and thoroughly enjoying expression, Yuuki Asuna sighed slightly, pulled the exorcist's sword from the chest of a failed creation, and although it was not stained with blood, she still habitually shook the sword, thinking to herself.

Killing like crazy.

They've completely gone berserk.

Although Asuna Yuuki doesn't hold back when killing these failures, she can't really say she enjoys the process; it's more like she has to fight in order to clear the dungeons.

But Asagiri is different. Asagiri is different from her, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko.

While Asagiri certainly wanted to achieve a high-level completion rating, he also thoroughly enjoyed the thrill of the battles, embodying the purest "gamer" mentality.

However, Asuna Yuuki already knew that Asagiri had such an unusual personality. After all, Asagiri was someone who had clashed with delinquents outside of school during junior high school, and ended up beating all five of them to the hospital, and even called this his most glorious achievement.

"With him here..."

Asuna Yuuki watched Asagiri's graceful movements and techniques as she skillfully used the rope dart to slaughter the failed attempt, and a slight smile of helplessness mixed with satisfaction appeared on her lips as she murmured to herself.

"There's no way we can lose."

……

A few minutes later.

"Finish."

Asagiri raised her foot and crushed the head of the last failed creation. The four Mitas stared in disbelief at the wreckage scattered around them, the heads of the failed creations rolling about – a truly gruesome sight.

Is this right?

Is this still the world of dating sims? Where did this come from?

"Mita: Super Enhanced Invincible Grass-Mowing Version"?

Just then, short-haired Mita suddenly felt a chill on her neck, followed by Kato Megumi's soft and calm voice in her ear.

"Start explaining it to yourself."

Hat Mita and Kind Mita realized what was happening and stood on either side of Short-Haired Mita, staring at her with suspicion.