Chapter 361: The "Deity" of the Cursed World
"Memory..."
The Blackwatch Player looked confused and muttered to himself.
"My memory..."
Asagiri glanced over and found that the other two Blackwatch Players had similar expressions.
The atmosphere in the area suddenly became somewhat eerie.
"When you were in your own world, did you never notice this?"
"No... how strange, why..."
After the three Blackwatch Players realized they had forgotten something, they subconsciously began trying hard to recall it.
Their gazes gradually grew brighter, as if they were remembering certain things.
"I remember now. Our world once..."
Just as the three of them reached that point, an unexpected situation occurred.
The moment the three Blackwatch Players said the word "once," before they could utter another word, their bodies suddenly melted into dark red, viscous liquid.
They did not even have time to scream before silently collapsing onto the ground.
"Melted?"
Asagiri instantly moved back several meters, avoiding any contact with the dark red liquid.
He looked at the viscous liquid on the ground that the three Blackwatch Players had turned into, his brows slightly furrowing as he pondered silently.
Why would this happen?
This could not possibly be a phenomenon caused by the Cursed entities in this Dungeon.
The Blackwatch Players were not weak, and they had not made any fatal mistakes just now.
If they could be silently melted like this, then the difficulty of a Stage Four Dungeon would be far too high.
It would be impossible for any Player to clear it.
Was it because the three of them had just begun to remember?
Was there some kind of instant death condition triggered when they were about to recall something?
Not only that, but from his conversation with the three Blackwatch members just now, Asagiri also realized one thing.
When they were in their own world, no one in Blackwatch could even realize that their memories were missing.
Only by entering another world through the Game system and hearing the question he had just asked were they able to perceive this anomaly.
Directly manipulating the memories of an entire world of humans?
Setting aside why such a thing would be done, the problem was...
An entity capable of doing something like this could no longer be called merely a Cursed entity.
It was practically...
"A Deity?"
Asagiri and Iwanaga Kotoko had once faced an entity called a Deity on the Black Giant Ship.
The greatest difference between a Deity and a Cursed entity was that it had no so-called main body. Rather, it was a phenomenon that defied logic and existed within a specific area.
It was already known that one of the conditions for the birth of a Deity was the death of a large number of humans.
The world where Blackwatch lived, a world completely occupied by the Cursed, naturally fulfilled that condition.
"Interesting."
A look of eager anticipation appeared in Asagiri's eyes, and he smiled softly.
"Don't let me catch you. If I do catch you, you're going to eat a Supreme Magic Bullet."
...
An hour later, in the lobby on the first floor of the Hotel where Asagiri and the others were staying.
"Huh? There's no one here?"
Seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi after they finished their exploration, Asagiri leaned against the check in counter, shrugged, and replied with a smile.
"Actually, three Players from Blackwatch did come by, but they're already dead."
"Dead?"
"I didn't kill them. It happened like this..."
Asagiri recounted his conversation with the three Blackwatch Players, along with the situation that had occurred afterward.
Upon hearing that there was actually something capable of erasing the memories of so many people, and that its Cursed power could cross worlds and melt the cursed person the moment the condition was triggered, Iwanaga Kotoko could not help furrowing her brows tightly.
"I have encountered many yokai, but even in the ancient legends they speak of, there has never been such a Cursed entity. This kind of conceptual ability... is practically an Evil God."
"But that is not a problem we need to consider right now."
Yuuki Asuna spoke softly, then looked toward Asagiri and reported,
"The three of us scouted the surrounding environment. We didn't encounter any other Players on the way, and the streets are filled with black coffins. However, near the entrance to the nearby subway station, we discovered dark red blood vessels covering the ground and pulsing constantly."
She paused briefly before continuing,
"The blood vessels extend underground. 'The end of the blood vessels is the Heart.' This hint likely means we should follow the direction the blood vessels extend and find the source, the main body. For now, there are no other clues."
"Hmm..."
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's words, Asagiri spoke softly.
"The difficulty is too low. It doesn't match a Stage Four Dungeon at all. Even as a Stage Three Dungeon, this difficulty would be far too low."
"Huh? Low difficulty?"
Yamauchi Sakura looked confused and asked curiously,
"It hasn't even really started yet, so why say the difficulty is low?"
"The difficulty he's talking about doesn't refer to the combat difficulty of the Dungeon."
Kato Megumi stood beside Yamauchi Sakura and patiently explained in a soft tone.
"According to the patterns of previous Dungeons, obtaining valuable clues requires bearing a certain amount of risk. One also needs to analyze the clues obtained before finally finding a way to clear the Dungeon successfully."
She looked toward the entrance of the Hotel lobby.
"However, from the start of this Dungeon until now, no danger has appeared. Necro, Violet, and I even discovered the anomaly at the subway station very quickly. In other words, in this Dungeon, the process of collecting and analyzing clues has almost no difficulty. That means..."
A worried look appeared in Yuuki Asuna's eyes as she spoke softly.
"The difficulty missing from the non combat phase will be reflected in the combat phase."
After that, Yuuki Asuna looked toward Asagiri.
"Moreover, the underground subway station is too narrow. It is truly disadvantageous for our team's performance."
Yuuki Asuna's worry was not without reason.
After all, among the five members of the team, aside from Yamauchi Sakura, who had a Priest class, and Iwanaga Kotoko, who had a Warlock control class, both she, who excelled in speed, and Asagiri, who possessed Castling and flight abilities, were best suited for wide open environments.
Kato Megumi's combat style was quite special, but she mainly took the role of an auxiliary attacker.
If they had to fight in an overly narrow environment, even if the enemy failed to notice her presence, she could still be caught in a wide area attack.
"You're right."
Asagiri first nodded, agreeing with Yuuki Asuna's opinion, then walked out of the lobby.
"But other than entering the subway station, we have no other choice."
...
Five minutes later, inside Kyoto Subway Station.
After descending the stairs into the subway station, what entered Asagiri and the others' sight were dense, dark red blood vessels of varying thickness.
They covered the ceiling, walls, and floor like some crazily growing vine, pulsing without pause.
"Thump... thump... thump..."
The blood vessels emitted a steady pulsing sound, as if the entire subway station had come alive and was breathing.
Inside the subway station, black metal coffins could also be seen everywhere.
Unlike the black coffins on the surface that ordinary people had turned into, the bottoms of the black coffins inside the subway station, where they connected to the ground, extended red blood vessels like threads.
Those vessels led all the way into the pitch black tunnel.
Looking at the scene before him, Asagiri manifested a black gun shaped Evoker in his hand and pulled the trigger while aiming it at his own temple.
"Persona, Human Asura."
After Human Asura appeared, it immediately moved to the rear of the entire team, preventing enemies from suddenly appearing behind them during their advance through the tunnel and threatening Yamauchi Sakura and Iwanaga Kotoko, whose melee capabilities were not strong.
"Let's go."
"Mm."
Yuuki Asuna took out her rapier, Shimmering Light, and walked at the very front alongside Asagiri as the team entered the pitch black tunnel.
"Such a strong Cursed aura..."
After entering the tunnel, Iwanaga Kotoko remained vigilant against enemies that might appear at any moment while observing the walls, the ceiling, and the pulsing blood vessels on the ground.
After walking for a few minutes, she suddenly stopped.
"Wait a moment."
"What's wrong?"
Iwanaga Kotoko squatted down on one leg, leaned in to observe the blood vessels on the ground, then looked up at Asagiri.
"You said at the beginning that the pulsing frequency of these blood vessels was about the same as a sleeping human?"
"Mm, about fifty five times per minute."
Iwanaga Kotoko nodded, then said something shocking.
"The pulsing frequency of these blood vessels has already exceeded eighty times per minute."
Just as Iwanaga Kotoko finished speaking, before Asagiri had time to reply, she sensed a fluctuation in the Cursed aura. Her expression changed as she shouted,
"Above!"
The moment Yuuki Asuna heard Iwanaga Kotoko's words, she did not waste even a second looking up.
She directly activated her ability.
"Stardust Splash!"
Eight crossing sword beams converged into a wide net and slashed straight upward.
"Retreat."
The next second, Asagiri immediately pulled Yuuki Asuna back.
From the converged sword net, dozens of severed limbs fell, but they immediately gathered together rapidly, forming a tall man wearing archaic blood stained armor.
He held a sharp long katana, and his face was fierce and twisted.
"This is... a Fallen Warrior?"
The term Fallen Warrior was usually used to refer to a lone samurai, but when applied to the Cursed, it referred to an evil spirit formed by a lone samurai who died with intense resentment.
Iwanaga Kotoko had seen many such Cursed entities, but she had never seen a Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit that emitted such intense resentment like this red armored samurai.
"Holy..."
Just as Asagiri was preparing to manifest the Holy Cross, the red armored Fallen Warrior rushed in front of him at astonishing speed.
The sharp katana slashed rapidly toward the top of his head.
"Clang!"
Yuuki Asuna used Shimmering Light to block the Fallen Warrior's katana strike.
Asagiri, as if he already knew she would block the attack for him, did not interrupt his spellcasting at all.
The Holy Cross manifested in his hand, carrying the terrifying force of his palm strike, and slammed directly into the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit's chest.
"Bang!"
The Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit's body was sent flying backward.
A hole appeared in its chest, and its form began gradually dissipating into a mist of black smoke.
"Taken care of..."
Just as Iwanaga Kotoko was halfway through speaking, she saw dozens of blood vessels extend from the surroundings and connect to the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit.
In the very next second, the hole in the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit's chest began healing rapidly.
Its eyes opened once again, and the rusty katana in its hand gradually turned dark red.
"It can still revive? How is this..."
Surprise filled Iwanaga Kotoko's eyes, but before she could finish being shocked, Asagiri had already rushed in front of the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit, giving it absolutely no chance to stand up.
"You like reviving?"
Asagiri manifested Holy Cross in both hands.
But this time, he was not using them as spells.
He was using them as enchantments.
With astonishing speed that left only afterimages behind, he began delivering physical strikes to the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit, each blow imbued with both Holy and Fire elemental damage.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"
Asagiri's punching speed was so fast that it produced explosive sounds like an automatic rifle firing in succession.
Under that relentless and brutal assault, the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit, which had initially struggled to stand, gradually released the dark red katana.
Its body was beaten apart piece by piece, then turned into dust within the holy light.
"Is that it?"
After completely shattering the Fallen Warrior Evil Spirit, Asagiri clapped his hands together and looked at the dark red katana on the ground, sounding slightly unsatisfied.
"What a pity. I thought you could revive a few more times and let me have more fun."
…..
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