Chapter 367: Strategy Team, Combine!
On the way to another area, Asagiri also explained to Kato Megumi why, in the previous battle, she had still been noticed by the blood-men monsters even after activating her exclusive talent.
It was because of the Red Moon in the sky.
The exact reason was unclear, but all creatures in this Dungeon seemed to be able to perceive the existence of Players through the light emitted by the Red Moon. Because of that, stealth abilities like Kato Megumi's exclusive talent had nowhere to hide beneath the Red Moon.
It was also because of this that even when Asagiri had ambushed the White-haired Woman from a blind spot high in the sky, she had still noticed him and dodged.
However, there were ways to deal with it.
Since the detection came from the light emitted by the Red Moon, the simplest way to avoid that red light's perception was naturally to enter a building.
Another method was to create a barrier that moonlight could not penetrate, just like when Asagiri had hidden himself in the smoke and dust earlier. As long as one was not directly illuminated by the red light, one could avoid being perceived.
At this point, aside from the Uncontrollables, nearly all clues about this Dungeon had been analyzed.
There were five hours left until the twelve hour clearance time limit ended.
If each red zone covered roughly the same area as the previous one, then there were still ten areas left to resolve.
Time continued ticking away, minute by minute.
...
Four hours later, on the rooftop of an office building in Kyoto City.
"Finally..."
Yuuki Asuna leaned against the rooftop railing, looking out over Kyoto City, whose colors had returned to normal, and let out a sigh of relief.
"We cleared three Hearts, and the other Players cleared the other seven... We finally made it. There's still an hour left, so let's get some proper rest."
Not only Yuuki Asuna, but also Asagiri, Iwanaga Kotoko, and the others showed signs of fatigue on their faces.
Although the time limit for this Dungeon was very short, only twelve hours, that meant twelve hours of continuous combat without any rest.
Especially during the second half of the stage, once they began clearing those red zones, the moment they entered a red area, they were forced into nonstop high intensity combat. They also had to keep advancing through that process to find the location of the Heart.
If not for Yamauchi Sakura, a Priest who could help restore both mental and physical strength, the five members of the team would have already been exhausted to the point where they could no longer continue fighting.
"Is this the end..."
Iwanaga Kotoko looked down at the city before her, a thoughtful expression appearing in her deep purple eyes.
"Although we have been guarding against the Uncontrollables and have personally destroyed the Hearts in the zones we cleared, we still haven't encountered any Uncontrollables. This is just too strange... Could the special prompt given by the system have only been there to make us witness the destruction of the Hearts with our own eyes?"
"No, I have that feeling too."
Asagiri leaned against the rooftop railing and spoke softly.
"We seem to have overlooked something. The rules for this Dungeon are just too strange. There are only rewards and no penalties whatsoever. Even if we simply found a building to hide in and waited out the twelve hours, we could still clear it. This doesn't feel like a death game where lives are at stake."
"That special prompt from the system..."
Yuuki Asuna took out her phone, opened the Eye Icon APP, pulled up the special prompt provided by the system, and quietly repeated it to herself.
Then her eyes suddenly brightened.
"Wait a second. Besides warning us about the existence and threat of the Uncontrollables, is it possible that this special prompt itself is the method for distinguishing between normal Players and Uncontrollables?"
"You mean performing actions that run contrary to the goals of normal Players? Aside from trying to survive and clear the Dungeon as much as possible, there isn't really anything else that can be called something all normal Players would do, right?"
Hearing Kato Megumi's question, Asagiri seemed to think of something and spoke softly.
"In this Dungeon, there is one thing that, once explained clearly, every normal Player would do. That is..."
Asagiri raised his hand and pointed at the red moon hanging in the sky.
"Avoid the illumination of the red moonlight."
"In other words, is it possible that the Uncontrollables must remain under the illumination of the red moonlight? But what threat do they actually pose that would make the system take them so seriously?"
"I don't know."
Iwanaga Kotoko, who had been uncharacteristically silent for a while, saw Asagiri turn his gaze toward her.
Only then did she finally snap out of her contemplative state.
Light appeared in her deep purple eyes as she slowly spoke.
"Don't you find it strange? Even though there are no barriers around Kyoto City, at this point, we still haven't seen any other Player factions arrive in Kyoto City to provide reinforcements. This is simply contrary to common sense. Not to mention others, Kaguya Shinomiya and Fujiwara Chika know that we are in Kyoto preparing for a Dungeon. After they discovered the Cursed phenomenon in Kyoto, wouldn't they try to provide support?"
"You mean..."
"A word game."
Iwanaga Kotoko looked down at the Dungeon information in the Eye Icon APP and spoke softly.
"This is indeed Kyoto City, but it is not the normal Kyoto City. Strictly speaking, the Cursed world is also our world. The so-called Kyoto City in our world is actually linguistic misdirection by the system."
Her expression became serious.
"Why use misdirection? Because if the information about the Dungeon location had been stated clearly, we would have noticed something wrong very quickly and realized the truth of this Dungeon. That truth is..."
At this point, Iwanaga Kotoko paused slightly.
Then she looked at Asagiri and the others in front of her and said word by word,
"It's not that we clear the Dungeon by surviving for twelve hours. It's that we only have twelve hours to destroy all the Hearts in this Dungeon."
Yamauchi Sakura cautiously offered a different opinion.
"Haven't all the Hearts already been cleared?"
Iwanaga Kotoko did not immediately answer. Instead, she asked back,
"Normal Players clear the Hearts after finding them, but what about the Uncontrollables? A zone returning to normal doesn't necessarily mean the Heart was destroyed. It's also possible that it was hosted on an Uncontrollable in some way. Those blood vessels only withered after losing contact with the Heart."
Asagiri glanced at the time displayed on his phone and said calmly,
"In other words, we have one hour and ten minutes to search for the Uncontrollables who might have obtained a Heart."
Yuuki Asuna frowned slightly and said with concern,
"Time is a bit tight... A total of seven red zones were resolved by other Players. With so many people, if we have to search..."
"Actually, the difficulty isn't high."
Asagiri reached out and rubbed the top of Yuuki Asuna's head, smiling to reassure her.
"We don't have time to find a second rule that might distinguish the Uncontrollables. We can only act on the premise that the Uncontrollables must be under the illumination of the Red Moon."
He continued calmly.
"Of course, there are two other possibilities. The first is that the Uncontrollables originally didn't need moonlight illumination, but gained this restriction after obtaining a Heart. The second is that the Uncontrollables were never able to enter any enclosed spaces from the very beginning."
"If it's the latter, and they entered as a team, then the difficulty of hiding would be too high. After all, they would have had to enter subway stations to clear the Hearts. Unless the entire squad consists of Uncontrollables, or they are lone wolf Players."
"But regardless of which situation it is, their current predicament is the same. They cannot hide in any buildings. So we only need to observe from high altitude, and we can quickly lock onto suspicious targets."
Hearing Asagiri's plan, Iwanaga Kotoko reacted the fastest and immediately raised her hand.
"I choose the shoulder!"
Kato Megumi reacted second and immediately spoke.
"Then I choose the back."
Yuuki Asuna and Yamauchi Sakura exchanged glances, not understanding what Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko were talking about.
Seeing this, Asagiri explained,
"Although Necro can also fly using Black Particles, she's too slow. If we want to act as a squad, I can only reluctantly let the four of you ride on me."
Hearing the word ride, Yamauchi Sakura did not have much of a reaction, but Yuuki Asuna instantly blushed, as if she had recalled certain embarrassing images.
She forced herself to suppress the shyness in her heart and spoke.
"Then I choose the left side."
"Then I... right side?"
"Alright then."
Asagiri waved his hand, full of momentum.
"Clear Squad, combine!"
Five minutes later, an unidentified object flew rapidly over Kyoto City.
Iwanaga Kotoko rode on Asagiri's shoulder, observing the ground below with her deep purple eyes.
Yuuki Asuna sat in the crook of Asagiri's left arm, while Yamauchi Sakura sat in the crook of his right arm.
Kato Megumi clamped her legs around his waist from behind, using her core strength, which far exceeded that of an ordinary person, to forcibly maintain stability.
As a five person squad acting together, this was very reasonable and also the most cautious choice.
It was just that this posture...
It was indeed abstract to the extreme, like four koalas, flaxen, pale gold, black, and brown, hanging from a towering tree.
Yuuki Asuna had a speechless expression as she watched the scenery on the ground flash by.
A thought sprouted in her mind.
I have to say, it flies quite fast.
Just then, Asagiri noticed a three person squad wandering on the street.
Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately landed on the roof of a two story building a few dozen meters away.
"Suspicious target..."
After steadying herself, Yuuki Asuna looked at Asagiri beside her and asked,
"Should we go confirm?"
"No, that would be a waste of time. Necro."
"OK."
Iwanaga Kotoko understood immediately.
Light bloomed in her deep purple eyes.
Then, a layer of Black Particles as thick as dark clouds instantly condensed above the three Players' heads, completely blocking the blood red moonlight from above.
.....
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