Chapter 330: The Strongest Squad of the Ashikaga Budo Association
"So that's it..."
Hearing Miwa Ashikaga's words from the other end of the phone, Asagiri nodded.
He immediately understood what she meant. His thoughts turned rapidly, and he began analyzing the situation.
"In other words, because these three places still have dense human traffic after midnight, the Dead Realms descended in those areas first. Based on this pattern, combined with the specific circumstances of the areas where we received prompts about Dead Realms descending, we can roughly analyze when each corresponding Dead Realm will appear."
"Mm, that's right."
Miwa Ashikaga let out a long sigh before slowly continuing,
"Excluding the Shinjuku entertainment street that you have already resolved, among the other six locations we know of, the peak hours for human traffic at Toyosaki Private Academy and the Metropolitan Police Department office building are after nine in the morning, when school and work begin. As for places like Shibuya, Ginza, and Tokyo Tower, the busiest period between midnight and noon should be after ten in the morning."
"Those places don't matter much, right?"
Hearing Miwa Ashikaga's analysis, Asagiri spoke in a flat tone.
"We already know the areas where those Dead Realms will descend. We just need to evacuate them in advance. That way, even if a Dead Realm descends, as long as it is handled in time, it won't cause civilian casualties. The real problem is the unknown Dead Realms. If the pattern you summarized is true, then that also means..."
At this point, Asagiri paused slightly, then spoke word by word.
"The real hell will only begin descending during the day."
...
Several hours later, on a residential street in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
"No... No..."
Three players wearing equipment and holding melee weapons kept retreating. Their faces were filled with fear as they looked at the female evil spirit before them.
She wore a bloodstained white shiromuku. Although the face she revealed was extremely beautiful, her skin was as pale as a corpse, and corpse spots had already appeared on her cheeks.
"We can't win... Run, run quickly!"
The three players turned around and tried to flee in panic, only to find several more evil spirits dressed exactly the same way, also wearing white shiromuku, appearing not far away.
Then, in the next second, large numbers of evil spirits appeared throughout the surrounding area. That chilling pure white filled the entire street, densely packed until there was nowhere left to escape.
"How... How is this possible...?"
The three players collapsed to the ground, disbelief and terror filling their eyes.
They had already tried fighting that female evil spirit earlier, only to discover that she was simply not an enemy they could deal with. Their attacks had no effect at all, passing straight through her body as if she did not exist.
"Hoo... Hoo..."
The female ghosts exhaled softly. The white shiromuku they wore fluttered without wind.
At that moment, the surrounding temperature began to plummet. Even though dawn had already arrived, it became as cold as the depths of winter.
Watching the white shiromuku draw closer and closer, despair appeared on the faces of the three players.
"Are we... going to die here...?"
Just then, they suddenly saw two afterimages, one black and one deep red.
The two shadows were like comets, tearing straight through the chilling white scene before them.
"Sword Skill: Stinger!"
"Holy Cross!"
A dazzling sword light and a blazing Holy Cross reflected each other, instantly cutting the scene formed by the white shiromuku to pieces.
Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna broke through the encirclement of evil spirits and arrived beside the three players.
Then, looking at the female ghost in white shiromuku who had clearly been struck but whose body was rapidly recovering, they showed no panic at all. Instead, Asagiri asked through the tactical headset,
"Necro, did you find anything?"
At that moment, Iwanaga Kotoko was sitting in a helicopter, observing the situation below through binoculars.
Hearing Asagiri's question, a glimmer appeared in her deep purple eyes. She immediately responded.
"Most of the female ghosts are just illusions. Judging from the Cursed aura they emit, three real bodies are located at the outermost edge on your left. There are two more at the outermost edge on your right. That is everything within my field of vision."
"Understood."
After receiving Iwanaga Kotoko's response, Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna did not need any further communication. With perfect tacit understanding, they moved to attack the outer perimeter on both sides.
"Sword Skill: Stardust Splash!"
"Persona, Human Asura."
The three trembling players were stunned, their jaws dropping as they watched Yuuki Asuna ignore the illusory female ghosts and rush toward the perimeter with her rapier in hand.
Then, after a flash of sword light, she sliced through more than a dozen illusions and the two real bodies at the same time.
Could there really be players this strong in the world!?
Their eyes could not even keep up with the movements of this red-clad swordswoman. They only felt a flash of light pass before their eyes. By the time they could see clearly again, all the female ghost illusions on that side had vanished, leaving only the elegant motion of her twirling her rapier.
"Thump... Thump... Thump..."
Just then, a series of dull impacts echoed.
The three players instinctively turned to look, only to see the player in the black trench coat grabbing a female ghost by the ankle with one hand and smashing her body violently against the ground.
It was less like fighting and more like he was enjoying the pleasure and thrill of slaughter.
Beside him, that tall black humanoid creature ripped the head off one female ghost, then reached out with both hands and grabbed another by the shoulders. Ignoring the ghost's struggles, it lifted her body and tore her cleanly in two.
"Whoa, damn..."
Seeing this incredibly brutal scene, the three players could not help but exclaim.
There were even more experts? Was this right?
The terrifying Cursed entities that had filled the three of them with despair could hardly be called enemies in front of these two players. They were more like toys, and low-quality ones at that, unable to satisfy them.
"Is that it?"
Seeing the bodies of the three female ghosts gradually dissipate, Asagiri shook his head, looking unsatisfied.
"It seems these were only Cursed entities from a second-stage difficulty Dungeon. They couldn't satisfy me at all."
"Um..."
Only then did the three players regain their senses.
Looking at Asagiri's back and the Human Asura beside him, they seemed to recall something. Their faces filled with shock as they asked,
"Are you...?"
"Like you, I am a Shadow belonging to the Ashikaga Budo Association player faction."
Asagiri turned around, glanced at the three players, and spoke in a flat tone.
"You are all physical class professions, right? You can't handle Cursed type enemies. If you want to obtain rewards, go look for corporeal enemies."
"Um..."
Seeing Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna walking away into the distance, the three players wanted to thank them. However, they saw Asagiri wave his hand casually and say dismissively,
"If you want to thank someone, thank yourselves for making the wise decision to join the strongest player faction, even though your strength is lacking."
...
A little later, on the rooftop of a building in Tokyo.
After analyzing the potential descent pattern of the Dead Realms during this Trial through Miwa Ashikaga's deductions, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department decisively took countermeasures.
Until two o'clock this afternoon, not only Tokyo, but all cities across Japan suspended every form of transportation, including trains, buses, and airplanes. Schools, workplaces, and all other locations were temporarily closed, and all citizens were instructed to stay home and not go out until further notice.
Furthermore, in addition to dispatching their own player squads, official agencies deployed elite mobile units.
Their goal was not to confront the Dead Realms. After all, while mobile units might have some chance against monsters like zombies, facing Cursed type enemies meant certain death no matter how many people they sent.
Thus, the mission of the mobile units was not combat, but citywide monitoring. If any Cursed phenomenon appeared, they would immediately contact headquarters and request that a player squad be dispatched to resolve it.
Under these various measures, casualties were barely kept under control.
Even so, although the Trial had not yet ended, according to rough statistics, in Tokyo alone, the number of innocent people who had died due to the descent of Dead Realms had already exceeded ten thousand.
"Whew..."
Yuuki Asuna, who was sitting on the ground resting, let out a long sigh and looked at Asagiri standing nearby. Her tone was gentle.
"It's fortunate we established the player faction in advance. Otherwise, relying only on our single squad, we certainly would have been stretched too thin."
Asagiri sat on the rooftop railing.
The morning sunlight shone on his face, and the rooftop wind fluttered the hem of his long black trench coat.
For a moment, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, Iwanaga Kotoko, and even the recently joined Yamauchi Sakura could not tear their eyes away from his face, as if they had been charmed.
"I understand. You are praising my foresight, my flawless planning, my outstanding sense of the big picture, and my deep deliberation."
Hearing Asagiri string those words together with a smile, Yuuki Asuna could not help but cover her mouth and chuckle.
"That is what I meant, but for you to say such a long string of compliments yourself, isn't that a bit too narcissistic?"
"I haven't said 'but' yet."
"But?"
"Yes, but."
Asagiri shrugged and changed the topic.
"But in reality, the main credit for controlling the situation and minimizing casualties this time doesn't belong to the plan I proposed. I only proposed a concept. The one who actually realized that concept, reached cooperation with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and completed all these tasks was Miwa Ashikaga."
Hearing this, Yuuki Asuna revealed a gentle smile and teased,
"If you told Miwa Ashikaga that yourself, she would definitely be very happy..."
"I'm already telling her."
Before Yuuki Asuna could finish speaking, she saw Asagiri show his phone. The screen displayed the interface for a call with Miwa Ashikaga.
"If you don't praise someone to their face, isn't that the same as not praising them at all?"
.....
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