Chapter 325: I Thought It Was a Speed Bump
Just as Asagiri was about to interrogate the swollen female ghost and forcibly extract the information he needed, he heard a scraping sound from the far end of the corridor.
When he looked up, he saw the same black substance like seaweed that had appeared on the streets, now densely packed together in a compressed mass of darkness. Within that blackness, he could vaguely make out pale, waterlogged corpses.
"Stay... stay!!!"
A pale male corpse crawled out from the black seaweed. Wriggling strands extended from its eye sockets, ears, nostrils, and mouth as it opened its jaw wide and let out a mournful, distorted voice.
"Stay here forever..."
Hearing the corpse's eerie words, Asagiri merely waved his hand. His tone was cheerful, like a guest politely refusing a host's invitation to stay for dinner.
"I won't be staying today."
The drowned evil spirit fell silent for a few seconds.
Then it suddenly erupted into a hateful roar.
"You must stay!!!"
"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"
Asagiri shook his head. The Rope Dart in his hand hung low, and his black eyes locked onto the pale corpses slowly crawling out from the black seaweed. The smile in his voice vanished, replaced by a flat, emotionless tone.
"For prey to force the hunter to stay with them, that is truly foolish."
"Holy Cross!"
Facing the Holy Cross that Asagiri instantly condensed, the pale corpse charging at the front had no way to dodge. Large patches of charred black marks burned across its pale skin, and the corpse fluid inside its body was scorched into mist by the accompanying heat.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
Logically speaking, corpse fluid was part of the grotesque Curse. Even if it was burned into mist by flames, it should still be able to harm humans.
However, the primary attribute of Holy Cross was divine power, which countered Curses. The divine aura contained within it completely erased the Cursed attribute the instant they came into contact.
The black seaweed sensed the divine aura and recoiled at first. Then, as if stimulated, it rapidly extended, coiling toward the source of the divine aura.
Toward Asagiri, who had cast Holy Cross.
"Human Asura."
The massive Human Asura instantly blocked Asagiri's path. Its dark body acted as an impenetrable barrier, directly stopping dozens of strands of black seaweed.
In the next second, the seaweed wrapped around Human Asura's neck and limbs, then tightened sharply, as if trying to tear off its head and limbs.
"Are you kidding me?"
Seeing the black seaweed actually attempting to tear Human Asura apart, even Asagiri was astonished.
"Don't make me laugh."
As expected, even when tightened to the extreme, the black seaweed could not tear off Human Asura's limbs or neck, nor could it cause any effective damage.
Among Asagiri's Personas, Human Asura had the strongest raw numbers. Not only did it possess extremely high Curse resistance, but it also had terrifying, monster level physical strength.
The Cursed aura attached to the black seaweed could not harm it, and the seaweed's strength was completely insufficient to damage its body.
After realizing this, the black seaweed immediately released Human Asura's limbs and neck. It then wriggled and shifted targets, drilling toward Human Asura's head at frightening speed, attempting to...
Thwack.
Seeing the black seaweed suddenly freeze in midair, its movements stopping in obvious confusion, Asagiri almost could not hold back his laughter.
He saw through it at a glance.
The black seaweed wanted to penetrate Human Asura's body through openings like the mouth, nose, and ears, just as it had done to the passersby outside.
The problem was...
Although Human Asura had a humanoid shape, it did not have organs like ears or a nose. There were no openings on its body surface that could be penetrated. Even if the black seaweed somehow entered its body, it would only discover that its internal structure was exactly the same as the outside.
There were no internal organs whatsoever.
Just then, Asagiri heard Kato Megumi's voice through his earpiece.
"Shadow, there's a situation outside. Retreat first!"
"Understood."
Asagiri responded, then looked at the pale evil spirits before him.
His gaze fixed on the male evil spirit that had roared at him to stay earlier, and a smile returned to his voice.
"Okay, you're the one."
Before the male evil spirit could react, Human Asura slapped away the dozens of black seaweed strands blocking its path, then instantly rushed in front of it. Its dark hand seized the evil spirit's neck.
Then it turned around and ran with Asagiri toward the corridor entrance.
The other evil spirits were all dumbfounded.
What was going on?
They had originally intended to make that human in black stay here forever, just like them, turning him into a wandering spirit forever unable to escape the Black Giant Ship's cabin.
But not only had they failed to keep him...
One of their own evil spirits had been kidnapped?
A human kidnapping an evil spirit. Was such a thing even allowed?
As Asagiri and Human Asura rushed out, a room door suddenly opened from within.
Immediately afterward, a disheveled, soaking wet female ghost poked out her swollen, terrifying head and let out a chilling, mournful cry.
"Stay..."
Bang!!!
Before the female ghost could finish speaking, Asagiri directly grabbed her twisted face.
Then, with astonishing strength, while still sprinting at full speed, he dragged her head along the wall with one hand until her entire face was mangled beyond recognition.
Only then did the light of Holy Cross appear in his palm, directly fusing and melting away the disfigured head.
He finally let go and said indifferently,
"Oh, a female ghost. I thought it was a speed bump."
When Asagiri and Human Asura, who was tightly gripping the male evil spirit's neck, arrived at the cabin entrance, they found it blocked by a tightly coiled mass of black seaweed.
"Holy Cross."
Asagiri condensed Holy Cross again, intending to destroy it by force.
However, the black seaweed merely writhed. Although the surface layer was burned into charred powder, more seaweed immediately replenished it from behind.
"Looks like I'll have to use that..."
As Asagiri spoke, Alice, who was standing on the deck, took several steps back. She gazed at the coiled black seaweed serving as a barrier at the cabin entrance and softly said,
"Please die for me."
The moment Alice activated her exclusive ability, the previously writhing black seaweed instantly turned into sand-like powder and scattered.
When Asagiri brought Human Asura onto the deck, he already understood what Kato Megumi had meant by "a situation."
The scenery on both sides of the night was slowly moving backward.
The Black Giant Ship had begun sailing again. It was now nearing the end of the street. Judging by its speed, it would leave this street in another two minutes.
The system's hint to advanced Players was that the Dead Realm would descend in a certain area, but the system had never said that the Dead Realm could only remain confined to its initial descent area.
Now, it seemed...
The Dead Realm could move.
Asagiri walked to the edge of the deck and glanced down. Then he canceled Human Asura's summon, used his Rope Dart to sever the evil spirit's limbs, grabbed its neck with one hand, and jumped off the deck without hesitation.
Boom!!!
When he landed on the ground, the impact instantly created a crater, sending gravel flying and stirring up clouds of dust.
However, after the dust settled, Asagiri, who had fallen from a height of nearly seventy meters, was completely unharmed. Only a little dust clung to the hem of his black trench coat.
[Hunter's Boots (Gray Quality, Cannot Be Appraised): Footwear equipment. When wearing this equipment, you are completely immune to fall damage, and your footsteps are completely hidden.]
Just then, Iwanaga Kotoko, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Yamauchi Sakura arrived beside Asagiri.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine."
Asagiri first replied with a smile, then told his four teammates about what he had witnessed inside the cabin and the entire battle process.
"A pitch black cabin, black seaweed, and drowned evil spirits, huh..."
After listening, Iwanaga Kotoko appeared thoughtful. She looked at the evil spirit Asagiri was holding.
Without needing any verbal communication, she knew exactly why Asagiri had brought this thing out. She immediately summoned a Pale Ghost Hand and began forcibly extracting the other party's memories.
"Hmm..."
After extracting its memories, Iwanaga Kotoko frowned slightly. She pointed at the slowly moving Black Giant Ship and spoke softly.
"That thing has been a vengeful spirit for too long, so it doesn't have many valuable memories left. However, it is terrified of the main body of the ship, specifically the hull below the upper deck. The source that can completely eradicate this Dead Realm should be there, but..."
Iwanaga Kotoko's brows knitted tightly.
It was the first time Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi had seen her wear such a serious, worried expression.
"Since it is the source of such a large-scale Curse, it must possess immense power. Shadow also mentioned earlier that there is no light source inside the cabin. Although we brought high-intensity flashlights, if they are damaged during battle, we will have to fight in absolute darkness."
"In other words... it would be the same as having our vision completely taken away."
Having said this, Iwanaga Kotoko paused, then looked at Asagiri and spoke.
"My perception of Cursed auras is very sharp. Even if I cannot see, I can accurately judge the movements of Cursed enemies. If you summon Alice, you can achieve the same thing through the connection between Persona and user, but the three of them... cannot."
.....
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