Chapter 331: The Strongest Arrival
After saying that, Asagiri held the phone to his ear and smiled.
"Did you hear my praise, Miwa Ashikaga?"
"I heard it, I heard it."
Miwa Ashikaga replied in the tone of an elder watching a mischievous yet exceptionally outstanding junior, helpless, but with a faint trace of amusement.
"To receive praise from you, I truly feel flattered. It makes me feel as though my last thirty-plus years weren't lived in vain."
"Huh? Aren't you almost sixty?"
"What do you mean, almost sixty? When we joked around before, you said I was almost fifty. How did you add another ten years this time? Don't start playing abstract with me..."
In the middle of speaking, Miwa Ashikaga suddenly paused.
Then, her voice became rapid, filled with unprecedented anxiety, even carrying a faint trace of panic.
"A new Dead Realm has appeared! Kaguya Shinomiya and the others are currently fighting enemies inside it!"
"Tell me the location."
"I've already sent it to your phone."
Miwa Ashikaga spoke quickly, then immediately emphasized the key point without wasting a single word.
"There isn't only Kaguya Shinomiya's squad at the scene. There are also five other player squads that don't belong to us. Three squads have already been wiped out!"
"Three squads wiped out?"
Asagiri frowned slightly as he boarded the helicopter parked on the rooftop together with Yuuki Asuna and the others.
"How long has the Dead Realm been there?"
"As of now, thirty-two seconds."
"Thirty-two seconds, and three player squads were wiped out?"
"Yes... No."
Miwa Ashikaga suddenly corrected herself midway, her tone heavy.
"It's four squads wiped out now. Kaguya Shinomiya and the others are also in danger."
"Even the three of them can't handle it?"
Because of the roar of the helicopter taking off, Asagiri could no longer clearly hear Miwa Ashikaga's voice from the other end of the call. He simply hung up and asked her to send the specific situation at the scene to him, Yuuki Asuna, and the others.
When Miwa Ashikaga sent the details over, the five members of the squad found the contents somewhat difficult to understand.
[Dead Realm Descent Area: A high-end residential district in Shibuya]
[Enemy Type: Special Infected (Zombies). According to reports from players at the scene, their number is at least over two hundred. The main types are Tanks, Hunters, and Witches. Their strength in all aspects is higher than the Special Infected in the first-stage Dungeon, roughly estimated to have reached the level of elite monsters in a third-stage Dungeon.]
"Just Special Infected?"
Yuuki Asuna put on her noise-canceling communication headset and looked at Asagiri with furrowed brows.
"According to Miwa Ashikaga's description, this many strengthened Special Infected are indeed very dangerous, but they shouldn't be enough to make even Kaguya Shinomiya and the others unable to handle the situation."
Before Asagiri could answer, Miwa Ashikaga sent another description, one that sounded almost inexplicable.
[Note: According to reports from players at the scene, aside from the large number of Special Infected, there also seems to be some kind of gray, shadow-like substance. The gray shadow is extremely fast, has astonishing defensive power, and possesses enough strength to tear players apart with its bare hands. It cannot be blocked by any physical obstacle. Kaguya Shinomiya's Shinso cannot pierce the gray shadow's defense. The opponent appears to possess resistance that is nearly immune to physical attacks. This is all the information available for now.]
"Extremely fast, astonishing defensive power, able to penetrate physical obstacles, nearly immune to physical attacks... a gray shadow..."
Those descriptions sent by Miwa Ashikaga made Asagiri think of something he, Yuuki Asuna, and the others had once encountered.
No, rather than encountered, it was something they had once had the opportunity to encounter.
"Could it be..."
...
At the same time, in a residential district of Shibuya.
"Kaguya Shinomiya!"
Hearing Hayasaka Ai's warning, Kaguya Shinomiya retreated half a step at the last possible moment, dodging the Hunter's pounce by a hair's breadth.
She immediately aimed her long sword at the enemy's head. The smear of bright red blood at the corner of her lips was especially striking.
"Shoot it, Shinso!"
The sharp blade suddenly extended.
However, after piercing less than two centimeters into the Hunter's forehead, it stopped.
A wound of that level, which failed to completely destroy the brain, was by no means fatal to a Special Infected.
Seeing this, Hayasaka Ai immediately activated her imitation ability, creating a flaming arrow that pierced through the Hunter's head.
"Huff... huff..."
After dealing with that Special Infected, Hayasaka Ai had no time to worry about her mental energy consumption. She immediately ran to Kaguya Shinomiya's side, concern appearing in her beautiful blue eyes.
"It's no use. Your mental energy and physical stamina are too depleted, and you were injured just now. Fighting is putting too much strain on you! Let's retreat!"
Although Hayasaka Ai could imitate other players' abilities, she was not a combat-specialized player. Furthermore, imitation came with a cost.
First, she could not imitate overly powerful skills. Second, she only had three slots for stored imitations. And when she used an ability obtained through imitation, it consumed more mental energy than the original skill.
"Retreat..."
Kaguya Shinomiya leaned against the wall, listening to the roars of the Special Infected while watching the afterimages flashing past from time to time. A hint of bitterness appeared in her eyes.
"We don't have the ability to fly. How are we supposed to retreat from this area?"
"Utsunomiya-san... Asagiri... he... he..."
Fujiwara Chika pursed her lips and spoke softly.
"He is already on his way. As long as we wait for him to arrive, he will definitely save us."
"I hope so."
Hayasaka Ai glanced at Fujiwara Chika. For some reason, she felt that the other girl's reaction whenever Utsunomiya Asagiri was mentioned seemed different from before.
However, in the face of this desperate situation, Hayasaka Ai had no room to think too much.
She immediately held Fujiwara Chika and Kaguya Shinomiya's hands and took a deep breath.
"I'm going to activate my ability. I don't know how long it can last, so let's leave it to fate."
As soon as she finished speaking, Hayasaka Ai activated her ability, disguising herself, Kaguya Shinomiya, and Fujiwara Chika.
Simply put, it made the wandering Special Infected perceive the three of them as Special Infected as well.
How long could this disguise last?
Hayasaka Ai did not know.
After all, she had previously noticed that the Special Infected known as Tanks and Witches were entities that would attack their own kind if they felt obstructed, not to mention that terrifying gray shadow that had sent Kaguya Shinomiya flying with a single blow.
If Fujiwara Chika had not exerted all her strength to launch an attack, that gray shadow would have killed Kaguya Shinomiya. It was a threat the three of them could hardly handle.
This sudden descent of the Dead Realm had plunged everyone in the area, whether players or ordinary people, into deep despair.
...
On the other side, at the entrance of an alley in the residential district.
"This is..."
Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had chosen to hide in the alley to avoid the gray shadow and the Special Infected, saw an extremely cruel and bloody scene.
Several Hunters were tearing at a man's body.
Amidst deafening screams, the man was ripped apart. Blood and fragments of internal organs splattered across the alley walls.
Those bloodstained Hunters were not eating.
It was as if they were simply enjoying slaughter.
They casually threw the corpse aside, then slowly turned around. Their bloodstained, dark gray zombie faces were as hideous as demons, and their gazes locked onto Kasumigaoka Utaha and Eriri standing in the alley.
"Hmph."
Just as the Hunters prepared to hunt and launch themselves at Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha, Shijo Maki, who was standing behind the two of them, raised her hands and spoke softly.
"Explosion."
The moment Shijo Maki finished speaking, a fireball suddenly appeared in front of the Hunters' heads.
Then came a violent explosion.
"Bang!"
Seeing that the Hunters were only knocked back, shaking their heads instead of having their skulls shattered as expected, Shijo Maki frowned and bit her lip.
"Seriously, is this all the power I can manage with this much mental exhaustion... Eriri, Kasumigaoka, don't fight them head-on. Find a place first..."
Before Shijo Maki could finish speaking, she felt the ground tremble.
Turning around, she saw a Tank more than three meters tall, like a mountain of flesh, charging toward them.
"Oh no..."
Shijo Maki immediately raised her hands to use her ability again, but a wave of dizziness struck her brain, and she could not even stand steadily.
Seeing this, Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha, despite being in poor condition themselves, immediately activated their abilities.
Eriri took out something resembling a paintbrush and quickly drew a pattern in the air. A giant wolf made of blue paint appeared from thin air and lunged at the Hunters.
Kasumigaoka Utaha took out a ballpoint pen, rapidly wrote a line of text in the air, and shouted,
"Defense!"
An invisible barrier blocked the Tank.
But in the next second...
"Crack."
"Uh..."
Due to excessive mental exhaustion, Eriri and Kasumigaoka Utaha's abilities failed to produce any meaningful effect.
The giant wolf of paint was torn apart instantly, and the invisible barrier was smashed to pieces by the Tank.
At a moment like this, the importance of a Priest capable of restoring status and extending endurance became clear.
Watching the Tank's massive figure grow larger in her vision, Shijo Maki's eyes lost their light.
She stumbled backward and fell to the ground, terror spreading across her cute face.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
Was she going to die here today?
Was this the end for Shijo Maki, who had been hailed as a genius?
Just then, a black shadow descended in front of Shijo Maki.
Even amidst the swirling dust, she could clearly see the hem of his black windbreaker fluttering in the wind, and the back that now stood between her and the Tank.
"Persona, Crazy Mita, Mira..."
"Human Asura Mode."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]