Chapter 334: Netherworld Summoning
Walrider had no ability to speak, so naturally, it was impossible for it to answer Asagiri's question.
Its body suddenly vanished, then reappeared more than ten meters away.
Seeing this, Asagiri looked unmoved on the surface, but his mind was already turning rapidly.
Walrider could split its body down to the nanoscale and then reassemble itself. To an observer, it looked as if it had suddenly disappeared and reappeared.
"Tch... what a troublesome guy."
Crazy Mita slowly stood up from the ground.
If Hat Mita or Mira had taken that blow from Walrider just now, they would almost certainly have been destroyed. But Crazy Mita was not a Mita who had passed review and been officially released. Beneath her appearance as a young girl was a mechanical structure that could not be considered human, so she would not go down easily.
"Are you in good condition?"
Hearing Asagiri's question, a blush flashed across Crazy Mita's face, and she snorted softly.
"Don't worry. I'm not as fragile as them. Instead of worrying about me, you'd better think about how to deal with that guy in front of us."
"Yeah."
Asagiri nodded slightly and cast his gaze toward Walrider standing there.
The chain Rope Dart hung low from his hand as he carefully observed the opponent.
There was one thing he cared about very much.
Walrider was a weapon. No matter what actions it took, they should all be born from the will of its host.
Since its host was a Special Infected, it was reasonable for it to actively attack players.
But why?
Why did it know combat arts?
And not some half baked level of combat arts either. It was the kind that had clearly gone through professional training, skilled and refined.
This meant its host was also some kind of existence proficient in combat arts.
Thinking of this, Asagiri immediately spoke through his communication headset.
"Be careful. There might be some kind of Special Infected hiding in the dark. It should possess high intelligence and be proficient in combat arts."
Yuuki Asuna immediately responded.
"Mm, understood."
Right after that, Yuuki Asuna spoke again in a gentle tone.
"You be careful too. We'll clean up all the Special Infected as soon as possible."
"Don't worry."
Asagiri replied with a smile, watching Walrider slowly walk toward him.
"I haven't even entered my second phase yet."
After saying that, Asagiri turned off his communication headset and fixed his gaze on the approaching Walrider.
His figure flashed in an instant. Holding the pitch black Rope Dart, he stabbed toward the center of Walrider's brow.
"Bang!"
Walrider's response was extremely unusual.
It did not raise its hand to block. Instead, its right arm suddenly disappeared, then reappeared floating in midair, directly grabbing the wrist of Asagiri's hand that held the Rope Dart.
Immediately afterward, its legs vanished out of thin air and kicked toward Asagiri's back from behind.
Human Asura charged forward and blocked the attack with both hands.
Taking advantage of that opening, Crazy Mita's chainsaw was already slashing toward Walrider's head.
"Whoosh..."
One second before being hit, every part of Walrider's body, including the legs held by Human Asura, turned into gray smoke.
Just like that, by splitting apart and recondensing, it appeared in the distance without a single scratch.
"This guy..."
Crazy Mita's chainsaw had cut through empty air. Her expression turned displeased as she gritted her silver teeth and glared at Walrider.
"It only knows how to keep running away with this cheap trick. How annoying!"
Standing in the distance, Sakurakawa Rikka could not move freely because she had connected her shadow to Asagiri, but she was not idle.
After witnessing the entire battle process, a thoughtful look appeared in her eyes. She shouted toward Asagiri.
"This guy's combat logic is a little abnormal."
"Mm, I noticed."
Asagiri nodded slightly.
He already understood what Sakurakawa Rikka meant by "abnormal."
Since Walrider possessed the ability to split its body down to an unobservable nanoscale, and since it was aware enough to use that ability in combat, then why did it not directly let its separated particles drill into the human body and destroy it from within?
Even with Asagiri's physical strength, if Walrider drilled into his body, he would instantly explode and die.
But why did the opponent not do that?
Had it simply failed to think of it?
Or rather...
Was it unable to do so?
To verify his conjecture, Asagiri once again launched an attack together with Human Asura and Crazy Mita.
Faced with this familiar situation, Walrider made the same response.
One arm split off and swung toward Crazy Mita. Its other hand clenched into a fist and struck toward Asagiri's head. As for Human Asura's attack, it gave up defending against it entirely.
After all, no matter how terrifying Human Asura's strength was, it could not cause serious damage to Walrider, which was nearly immune to physical attacks.
However, in the next second, Asagiri made a shocking move.
He sidestepped to avoid Walrider's arm, then directly wrapped both of his arms around it.
Immediately afterward, like a beast, he opened his mouth and bit down on Walrider's dark gray arm.
"Bang!"
Walrider's arm turned into a cloud of gray smoke and quickly returned to its main body.
After being hit by Human Asura's attack, it immediately borrowed the force and floated back into midair.
However, this time, the surface of its body began writhing continuously, as if some kind of malfunction had occurred.
"As expected..."
Asagiri looked at Walrider's body.
Although its arms and legs appeared intact, a gap of about two centimeters had appeared at its waist.
He raised his hand, wiped his mouth, and said in a flat tone,
"You can control your body in particle form, but once body parts that are too small enter a human... No, enter the body of a player with high mental strength and physical strength, the main body may lose connection with those separated parts, making it impossible to retrieve the particles that make up the body."
At this point, Asagiri's tone carried a faint smile that even made Sakurakawa Rikka feel a chill.
"In other words, as long as I find a group of players whose mental strength and physical strength both meet the standard, I can slowly eat you away until you disappear. Looks like you're not that hard to deal with after all."
Walrider seemed frightened by Asagiri's words.
It froze in midair for a moment, taking no offensive action. It even retreated slightly.
But Sakurakawa Rikka keenly noticed that Asagiri was not as relaxed as he appeared.
His hands were trembling faintly.
Fear? Terror? Loss of bodily control caused by excitement?
No.
It was not any of those.
Sakurakawa Rikka was very familiar with this reaction, because she had experienced it many times herself.
This was the reaction of someone enduring unbearable, excruciating pain while desperately trying to suppress it.
But she and Asagiri were clearly in a Linked state. Logically speaking, all the damage he received should have been transferred to her.
Unless...
It was not pain caused by physical injury, but mental anguish.
"The fear of imminent death, pain like your very soul is burning away, and the despair of suffocation..."
Asagiri closed his eyes, feeling the mental pain brought by devouring Walrider's body particles.
After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again. They carried a relaxed, pleased look.
Then he shrugged.
"It's alright. This level of mental torture is like drinking frozen Pepsi to me. It's less painful than drinking room temperature Coca-Cola, let alone room temperature Pepsi."
If Walrider possessed self-awareness, it probably would have been dumbfounded.
Sakurakawa Rikka was certainly dumbfounded.
Cola? Pepsi? Coke? Frozen? Room temperature?
So, in your life, the most painful things you can imagine are all related to beverages!?
Is your mind too resilient, or is your soul too abstract!?
...
Meanwhile, Yuuki Asuna and the others, who had already regrouped with Kaguya Shinomiya's squad and were fighting the Special Infected, heard Miwa Ashikaga's voice through their communication headsets.
"Official forces have arrived at the perimeter. Not only players, but also heavily armed mobile units responsible for cover. At the current speed, this area should be mostly cleared in about ten minutes."
"Ten minutes? Roughly?"
Yuuki Asuna, usually so gentle, frowned when she heard this. Her tone was completely unlike her usual self as she urged,
"Can't it be faster? Can't it be completely cleared?"
"This is the limit."
"Violet."
Just as Yuuki Asuna was about to say more, Iwanaga Kotoko gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
Her dark purple eyes carried firm determination.
"Use that move."
"That move... Could it be..."
"Yes."
Iwanaga Kotoko did not explain further. She directly turned her gaze toward Hayasaka Ai, who was standing nearby.
"If I remember correctly, you have a piece of equipment that can create attention-grabbing noise. Use it now."
Hayasaka Ai frowned slightly and hesitated.
"Use it now? But if I do that, all the surrounding Special Infected will be drawn toward us..."
"Ai."
Kaguya Shinomiya glanced at Hayasaka Ai and spoke calmly.
"Do as she says."
"Alright."
Since Kaguya Shinomiya had spoken, Hayasaka Ai no longer hesitated.
She took out something resembling a toy horn from her inventory. When she pressed the button on its surface, the horn emitted a noise exceeding two hundred decibels.
If an ordinary person were here, their eardrums would have suffered severe damage.
The effect of the noise was immediate.
In an instant, dozens of Special Infected gathered in the area. They immediately located the source of the sound and prepared to attack the group.
At that moment, Iwanaga Kotoko took a deep breath.
Light burst from her dark purple eyes.
She slowly raised both hands, and the shattered stones scattered across the surrounding ground began to float under the power fluctuation she released at that instant.
"Activate..."
"Netherworld Summoning."
.....
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