Chapter 369: Dungeon Cleared, Ticket to Cross Death
"Big Brother~"
Just as Asagiri was pondering, Yuuki Asuna saw Alice, who had previously been cold as ice and intimidating, suddenly run to Asagiri's side.
On that mature face, a pure smile like a little girl's bloomed, and she said eagerly,
"How is it? I've become stronger~ Now I can help in battle and spend more time with you, Big Brother, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Woohoo, yay~"
Seeing Asagiri reach out to stroke Alice's long hair, and seeing the mature Alice still act as obediently as a little girl, even actively leaning her head closer to act spoiled toward Big Brother, Yuuki Asuna could not help covering her forehead and sighing.
This might be what they called guarding against every enemy under heaven, only for the enemy to come from heaven itself.
It was one thing to guard against students from the two schools, Shuchiin Academy and Toyosaki.
But who could have guessed that she would even have to guard against a Persona?
How was one supposed to guard against this!?
The two Players had watched the entire battle.
They had watched the golden haired woman with wings on her back forcibly absorb the Cursed entity, and intense fear could not help rising in their hearts.
After exchanging a glance, they prepared to seize the moment when Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna were off guard and quietly turn to flee.
But just as they turned around, they saw Kato Megumi holding the Nightingale Blood Crying Bow, and Iwanaga Kotoko holding her cane, standing there with elegant and dignified posture.
Before they knew it, the two girls had already blocked their path.
"Start talking."
Asagiri appeared silently behind the two Players and rested his hands lightly on their shoulders.
Although he did not use much force, merely being touched caused the two Players' bodies to tremble with fear.
"Why did he absorb the Heart, yet you two, as his teammates, didn't notice a thing? If you don't come clean... I don't mind cleaning you two up as well."
"W-we don't know either..."
The two Players could feel that Asagiri was not joking, so they said this first and immediately added,
"But... our strength among fourth stage Players is below average. And before entering this Dungeon, the endurance items that could restore stamina and mental energy had already been used up..."
One of them swallowed nervously.
"But Shimada... that's the person you just killed. During the process of clearing the Heart, he displayed strength different from before, and he even had several Purple quality pieces of equipment. It was all thanks to him that we had the chance to reach the location of the Heart in one of the areas."
"We were responsible for keeping watch, and he went upstairs alone to find the Heart's true form..."
"Purple quality equipment?"
Iwanaga Kotoko would not go so far as to say, What is so strange about mere Purple equipment?
After all, based on the intelligence gathered from Miwa Ashikaga, even at the fourth stage, most Players had at most one piece of Purple equipment. Some who were slightly worse off did not even have one.
If one described the average equipment level of Players at this stage by quality, it was roughly close to Purple Fine grade, but had not fully reached it yet.
"To suddenly have several more pieces of Purple equipment that even teammates didn't know about without clearing a Dungeon... that really is quite strange..."
Iwanaga Kotoko first muttered this to herself, then looked up at Asagiri and smiled.
"However, now isn't the time to analyze intelligence, right?"
"Right."
Asagiri nodded, revealing a smile eager to try.
"We have to clear more Uncontrollables before the Dungeon time limit ends. If we can acquire more Hearts..."
At this point, Asagiri pointed at Alice, who stood there beside him.
She was clearly tall now, with an impeccable, beautiful face, yet she still tilted her head slightly like a little girl, wearing a cute, dazed expression as she followed at his side.
"Then I can continue feeding this one."
...
One hour later.
[Congratulations, "Player" Utsunomiya Asagiri. You have cleared this Dungeon.]
[In this Dungeon, your special bonus actions were: clearing a semi-formed Heart, sharing the rules of the Cursed area with other Players, and eliminating an Uncontrollable that fused with a Heart.]
[Your clearance evaluation for this Dungeon is: A.]
[Please begin customizing the quantity and type of clearance rewards you wish to obtain.]
As the red mist before their eyes gradually dissipated, the five people, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, Kato Megumi, and Yamauchi Sakura, who had returned early to the Hotel suite, finally relaxed.
Outside the window, what hung in the sky was no longer that blood colored moon, but the warm sunlight of early morning.
"What grade was your clearance evaluation this time?"
Hearing Asagiri's question, Iwanaga Kotoko answered first.
"A+."
Yuuki Asuna glanced at her phone and said with slight disappointment,
"I only got A-."
Kato Megumi nodded slightly.
"I'm also A-."
"Uh, that..."
Seeing the four people's gazes turn toward her, Yamauchi Sakura pursed her lips in embarrassment. Her face flushed slightly as she said,
"I'm S+..."
The reason Yamauchi Sakura could obtain such a high level clearance rating was simple.
During the process of clearing the Heart inside the subway station, before clearing the Dungeon, Asagiri and the others had handed all the bonus items and Soul Crystals obtained by the team to Yamauchi Sakura.
From the clearance evaluation given by the system, it could be seen that this Dungeon was different from previous ones.
Those bonus items and Soul Crystals were equivalent to vouchers for clearing the Hearts in the subway stations.
It was like the system had issued a quest where rewards could be claimed without limit, and Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and the others had handed all the items required for that quest to Yamauchi Sakura alone, allowing her to repeatedly submit them and obtain rewards.
Yamauchi Sakura kept one Summoning type Soul Crystal and one Holy type Soul Crystal without submitting them, while submitting the remaining five.
This meant that in the system's settlement, it was equivalent to her alone clearing out all the enemies in five subway stations, plus all the small monsters in two subway station tunnels.
If she still could not get the highest level clearance evaluation after stacking things like that, then that would truly be unfair.
"I..."
Seeing Yamauchi Sakura's embarrassed expression, Asagiri merely waved his hand and spoke as if it were only natural.
"Don't this and that me. Our performance in this Dungeon wasn't particularly outstanding. Instead of splitting the loot evenly and having all five of us only get A+ or S- ratings, it's better to invest the resources into you alone."
He spoke with complete confidence.
"As the saying goes, milk comes from the cow, so you just work hard to squeeze... work hard to handle the logistics. That's enough."
A hint of anger appeared in Yuuki Asuna's eyes. She gently pushed Asagiri's shoulder and spoke softly.
"Were you about to say something filthy just now?"
"Didn't I change what I said?"
"With your reaction speed, you shouldn't have let the word squeeze slip, right? With you hesitating and changing your words like that, it would've been better if you had just finished saying it!"
"If I really finished saying it, you wouldn't be happy."
Watching Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna bicker with smiles in their eyes, while Iwanaga Kotoko and Kato Megumi watched the fun from the side with smiles of their own, Yamauchi Sakura suddenly felt an inexplicable sensation in her heart.
The corners of her lips could not help curling upward.
"Can we see what kind of rewards I'll get this time first?"
"Oh right, I forgot you weren't a high level Player."
Yamauchi Sakura was not a high level Player, so she did not have the qualifications to customize her reward content.
However, after obtaining an S+ level clearance evaluation in a fourth stage Dungeon, she should be promoted to a high level Player this time.
[Due to your outstanding performance in the Dungeon, your Player authorization has been upgraded from "Normal" to "High Level".]
[Congratulations on obtaining clearance rewards: Mental strength significantly increased, equipment "Feedback Ring", equipment "Holy Light Staff", class upgraded to high level class "Holy Priest", one time item "Ticket to Cross Death".]
[Feedback Ring (Purple Quality, Fine): When wearing this ring to cast restoration or healing abilities, the wearer will also receive the same restoration and healing effects.]
[Holy Light Staff (Purple Quality, Fine): When equipping this staff, the effects of all Holy attribute abilities are significantly increased, including healing, attacking, and restoration.]
[Holy Priest: A high level Priest class focused on restoration and healing, with a certain ability for Holy attribute attacks.]
[This class's exclusive ability: Sacred Light.]
[Sacred Light: Fused from the three skills Healing Light, Holy Light, and Sacred Blessing. When the light is condensed into a beam, it acts as Holy attribute attack magic. When the light is condensed into a sphere, it provides healing and restoration effects to the target, but cannot be used on oneself.]
After viewing the information above, Yamauchi Sakura's gaze swept to the new line of prompts given by the Eye Icon APP.
When she saw the introduction for Ticket to Cross Death, she could not help freezing.
[Ticket to Cross Death (One Time Item, Gray Quality, Unidentifiable): This item can be consumed during the registration phase of a fifth stage Dungeon to enter an unknown Dungeon. Upon entry, you will receive an exclusive hidden quest. Successfully completing the hidden quest will allow you to obtain a special item that can completely cure physical diseases.]
[Note: The unknown Dungeon is one of the highest difficulty Dungeons in the fifth stage. Please make full preparations before entering.]
"This is..."
Seeing the information appearing on Yamauchi Sakura's phone, Kato Megumi, who was sitting beside her, spoke softly.
"That's great, Sakura. We've finally found a way to cure your terminal illness."
"But... but..."
Yamauchi Sakura looked up at the three girls, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko.
Then she cast her gaze toward Asagiri and said with slight hesitation,
"The system says that the unknown Dungeon will be one of the highest difficulty Dungeons in the fifth stage. If it's just for my sake..."
"What on earth are you talking about? I don't understand at all."
Asagiri waved his hand, smiling as he interrupted Yamauchi Sakura.
Then he spoke in a rarely serious tone.
"For me, this kind of thing has never been a multiple choice question, but a mandatory one."
.....
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