Chapter 389: The Hunt on the Island
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's retort, Fujiwara Chika belatedly realized her slip of the tongue.
She stuck out her tongue in embarrassment, using her signature skill to charm her way out of it.
"Although it's a warm-up before entering the Dungeon, you should still pay attention to moderation."
Kato Megumi, while scrolling on her phone, spoke in the characteristic calm tone of her Saint Megumi mode.
"Although simulated battles in NERvGear don't put a burden on the body, they still consume mental energy. It's good to get into the state required for the strategy in advance, but if you end up mentally exhausted because of it, it won't be worth it."
"Don't worry, we're just playing around."
After Fujiwara Chika replied with a smile, Asagiri tapped the Eye Icon APP on his phone screen and spoke softly.
"Then I'll confirm the registration first."
The moment he clicked to register for the Dungeon, a prompt popped up in the Eye Icon APP.
[Are you sure you want to use the one time item "Ticket to Cross Death"?]
Asagiri clicked confirm without hesitation, and a new prompt appeared in the Eye Icon APP.
[Dungeon registration has been confirmed. The theme of this Dungeon is "Hunting".]
[Note: Due to the extremely high difficulty of this Dungeon, specific Dungeon information is being provided at this moment.]
[Location of This Dungeon: ??? Ecological Island]
[Time Limit for This Dungeon: No time limit.]
[Mission Objective for This "Player": There are five evacuation points set up in different directions on the island, located at the east, west, north, and south edges, as well as the center of the island. Successfully reaching an evacuation point is considered clearing the Dungeon.]
[Public Hint: This mission requires extremely high reconnaissance and stealth abilities. Before confirming the Dungeon environment, please do not use skills that attract too much attention.]
[Special Hint: Please conceal the power fluctuations you emit. The enemies on the island possess danger perception abilities far beyond ordinary people.]
After reading the information displayed in the Eye Icon APP and stating the special hint he had received, Asagiri looked up at Yuuki Asuna and the others in the living room and asked,
"Same old rule. Let's each share the special hints we received."
In this death game, there was not really a concept of teaming up.
As long as Players joined a Dungeon through an invitation sent by a registered Player, they would be teleported to the same location in the Dungeon world, except in a very few special circumstances.
This was what was considered teaming up.
Yuuki Asuna read quickly and immediately looked up to answer.
"The special hint I received is [Most enemies in this Dungeon have extremely high physical defense]."
Iwanaga Kotoko then spoke.
"My special hint is [Most enemies in this Dungeon have extremely high mental resistance]."
Hearing the special hints received by Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and Iwanaga Kotoko, everyone present could not help frowning.
What exactly were these so-called enemies?
Extremely strong perception.
Extremely strong physical defense.
Extremely high mental resistance.
What was this?
Was the island full of Utsunomiya Asagiris?
"My special hint is similar to Asagiri's. It also reminds me to be careful about concealing my tracks and hiding my aura."
"Uh..."
After the four of them finished stating their special hints, Yamauchi Sakura pursed her lips, placed her phone on the table, and spoke with a complicated expression.
"The special hint the system gave me is... [Reasonably allocate your stamina and mental energy]. Why does it feel like... it's looking down on people?"
Kaguya Shinomiya sat on the sofa, arms crossed over her chest, and spoke in a calm tone.
"My special hint is the same as Asuna's."
Fujiwara Chika raised her hand and smiled.
"Mine is different. Mine is [Carefully investigate the surrounding environment where the enemies live. You might obtain some key information]."
Hayasaka Ai then said,
"Mine is [Some disguises can work, while others will only attract enemies]."
Facing everyone's curious gazes, Sakurakawa Rikka spoke softly.
"Mine is [Sending out a shadow clone to scout the environment carries the risk of the main body being tracked as well]."
"Hmm..."
After listening to everyone's special hints, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately entered a state of thought.
She organized the information she had received and spoke thoughtfully.
"High physical and mental resistance, keen perception, living on an island that tests Players' endurance, and some key information in their surrounding environment. These so-called enemies... don't seem like humanoid creatures, nor do they seem like Cursed entities. Otherwise, it wouldn't be extremely high resistance, but complete immunity to pure physical attacks."
The system was never vague or misleading in the key hints it provided.
If the enemies were Cursed entities, then if it gave relevant hints, it would definitely state that physical attacks were ineffective, not merely that they had extremely high resistance.
"The key point is that special hints were given in advance."
Kaguya Shinomiya was also very intelligent and immediately added,
"The system said it was because the difficulty of this Dungeon was too high, which is why it gave a special warning before we even entered. But does that really make sense?"
"We have nine high level Players here, but even if we piece together everyone's special warning content, we still can't reach any useful conclusion. Without personally entering the Dungeon environment, even with ample time to think, it's meaningless."
"Unless we have to make a choice as soon as we enter the Dungeon."
Hearing the doubts raised by Kaguya Shinomiya and Iwanaga Kotoko, Asagiri pondered for a moment.
"The special warning given by the system, simply put, actually conveys two meanings. The first is that the enemies on the island are difficult to deal with. If we rush into battle without sufficient information, even if we win, it will consume a lot of mental and physical strength, and our endurance afterward will become a problem."
"The second is that the enemies' perception is very strong. If a battle occurs, we must resolve it quickly. Otherwise, it may attract more enemies. So..."
Asagiri looked at the women in front of him and slowly spoke.
"This Dungeon is likely to have a battle erupt as soon as we enter. At that time, what we need to do is not fight, but quickly withdraw. As long as Megumi applies her exclusive talent effect to each of us before entering the Dungeon, we can withdraw from the battlefield without risk."
"Mhm. Leave it to me."
"Then there's another problem."
Asagiri looked at Kaguya Shinomiya, Fujiwara Chika, Hayasaka Ai, and Sakurakawa Rikka, who formed the other team with them, carefully examining each person's face as if deep in thought.
"You... what are you looking at..."
Noticing Kaguya Shinomiya's flushed face and how she could not speak clearly, Hayasaka Ai said with slight speechlessness,
"He's probably thinking if there's anyone among the four of us who has a particularly high presence and easily attracts attention. After all, the system said that power fluctuations are also within the enemy's perception range."
"I can figure this out, but you..."
Hayasaka Ai did not explicitly state the latter half of her sentence, but everyone who understood, understood.
The usually calm and rational Kaguya Shinomiya, once she entered lovestruck mode, immediately entered a state of intelligence reduction, with her IQ plummeting to a level similar to Hat...
No, to Prototype Mita.
"Looking at this situation, it seems best to stay by Megumi's side, but..."
Iwanaga Kotoko observed the four people sitting opposite her.
In her God of Wisdom mode, she was making judgments based on pure rationality, not because of trivial reasons like jealousy.
"Nine people gathered together. Not to mention coordination issues, such a large target in itself is enough to attract attention."
"You don't have to worry about that."
Hayasaka Ai crossed her legs, raised her hand, and tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear, humming softly.
"Since the Dungeon environment is an island, the terrain should be quite complex. Although I don't have the ability to reduce others' presence, I can use methods like eliminating scent, removing traces, and changing appearance for disguise."
"So, you don't need to worry about the four of us. As for you..."
Hayasaka Ai raised both hands, pointing at Asagiri and Iwanaga Kotoko simultaneously.
"Both of your fighting styles are too exaggerated. What's more, your team has a limping cleric who can't even run. Compared to us, you should worry about yourselves first."
Yamauchi Sakura showed a speechless expression and sighed heavily.
"Limping cleric... that's even worse than lettuce cleric."
"I also agree with Ai's opinion. Let's stick to the original plan."
Kaguya Shinomiya looked at Asagiri, a rare tenderness appearing in her red eyes.
"My fighting style isn't that ostentatious, and Chika just needs a little control. But... you're willing to worry about our safety. I... as the leader of this small team, am quite happy."
Upon hearing this, Asagiri's expression became complicated, and he spoke noncommittally.
"If I say I'm worried about you..."
He pointed at Hayasaka Ai, who was sitting there.
"Hayasaka will think I'm looking down on people and treating the four of you as idiots. But if I say I'm not worried about you at all, it will put you in an awkward situation where you seem to have overthought things."
"So I ask, can we focus on the Dungeon and give me a break from constantly preventing a love triangle? Who can handle this?"
...
Several hours later, the moment the clock hand passed twelve.
["Player" Utsunomiya Asagiri is now entering the Dungeon.]
[Because you used the one time item "Ticket to Cross Death", you have obtained a hidden quest.]
[Hidden Quest: Go to the center of the island.]
When the red mist before him dissipated, Asagiri immediately began observing the surrounding environment.
He saw a group of people standing on a soft beach.
Judging from the bright sky and the position of the sun, the time inside the Dungeon was probably morning.
On the beach, there were not only him and Yuuki Asuna, but also around twenty to thirty other Players.
Because Kato Megumi had applied the presence reducing effect to everyone before entering the Dungeon, those Players had not yet noticed the presence of Asagiri and the others for the time being.
Just then, a roar suddenly came from the sky.
All the Players present looked up and saw two crimson and azure shadows flying among the clouds.
Looking at their immense bodies, looming faintly through the clouds, and hearing their deafening roars, most of the Players' faces showed expressions of horror.
"That is..."
"A dragon?"
.....
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