Chapter 160: The Strongest Player's Strongest Team
Boom!!!
A heartbeat before the grenade detonated, Sato did not hesitate. He grabbed Tanaka Koji and yanked him in front like a human shield.
Ajin could revive at full health after death, and Sato often exploited that immortality to gain the upper hand. But right now…
He was doing everything he could to avoid dying.
Because he could not be certain what kind of ability the Player wearing the dark gray Persona possessed.
Sato feared that if he died here, when he opened his eyes again, he might find himself in a state where he could not move freely at all.
Against Asagiri, he could not afford a single mistake.
When the grenade exploded, Tanaka Koji absorbed most of the blast. Even so, the deafening shockwave at such close range still slammed into Sato's skull. His head spun, his ears rang, and the world went silent.
Temporary deafness.
"Where is he…"
Sato pressed his back against the wall, refusing to relax. He raised the automatic rifle and aimed first at Crazy Mita, who lay on the floor with both arms and half her body blown away.
Two seconds passed.
No black particles.
"Huh?"
Sato's composure finally cracked into confusion.
"This… isn't an Ajin?"
He had assumed she was an Ajin like him, or at least had a similar physique. That would explain the suicidal grenade rush.
But she did not revive.
So she could not revive?
That meant it was not strategy.
It was just madness.
Just as Sato's thoughts spun, he watched Crazy Mita's broken mechanical body begin to vanish, as if dissolving out of the world.
"Disappeared?"
Sato's expression changed again. Something clicked in his mind.
He yanked several grenades from his waist, pulled the pins without hesitation, and hurled them toward the doorway.
Before the explosions even went off, Sato dragged Tanaka Koji's ruined body closer. He looked down at the mangled flesh where black particles were already beginning to ripple.
A smile appeared.
"Tanaka. You'll have to endure this a little longer."
…
When the smoke finally thinned, Asagiri stepped into the operating room and immediately saw an irregular hole punched through a thick concrete wall.
"Escaped again?"
His gaze swept over the scattered remains on the ground. He already understood exactly how Sato had forced his way through.
The Ajin resurrection mechanism was peculiar. If the body was damaged and the separated parts were nearby, the black particles prioritized reassembling what was already there.
But if a limb was severed and far away, the particles regenerated the missing part when the Ajin revived.
In that case, anything blocking the regeneration would be melted and dissolved by the black particles.
Cut off an arm or leg. Press the severed end against the wall. Kill the Ajin. Let resurrection do the rest.
A brutal method, but effective.
"We can't waste time."
Since the attack began, Asagiri's Personas had already been destroyed twice. And even though the Human Asura had not been destroyed in the clash with Sato, the battle had still burned a large portion of Asagiri's mental and physical strength.
He measured his condition quickly and reached a clear conclusion.
If he wanted to retain enough energy to keep moving, keep fighting, and still finish at the end, then he could summon and lose his Persona twice more.
If he did not lose them to external force, and instead actively canceled and switched, he could summon three times.
"Three times…"
Asagiri's eyes narrowed.
"That might not be enough."
If it were only Sato, Asagiri was confident he could restrict his movement.
But Tanaka Koji could also summon an IBM.
And Nagai Kei was there too.
Nagai Kei's IBM was strange and did not follow commands, and Nagai Kei himself was not much of a fighter, but the amount of black particles in his body was far greater than ordinary Ajin. That meant his IBM endurance was likely higher than both Sato and Tanaka Koji.
Ajin could not summon multiple IBMs at once.
But Asagiri also could not summon multiple Personas at once.
Even with Human Asura, the strongest in frontal combat, suppressing three IBMs alone would be close to impossible.
Worse, with Tanaka Koji and Nagai Kei present, even if Asagiri managed to restrain Sato, they could simply shoot and kill him again, resetting everything.
All effort wasted.
"Forget it. Retreat."
Asagiri calculated the odds and judged the success rate alone was too low. Even if eliminating Sato earned additional system rewards, the risk was not worth it.
But just as he turned to leave, rapid footsteps approached.
Yuuki Asuna rushed into the operating room, Exorcist Longsword in hand, crimson cloak flowing behind her. Iwanaga Kotoko and Kato Megumi followed close.
"Leader." Yuuki Asuna's voice held concern. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Asagiri waved a hand, smiling.
"It's nothing. A mere Sato can't injure me."
Yuuki Asuna finally exhaled, then smiled helplessly.
"Still showing off. Looks like my worry was unnecessary."
"Did you get the experimental data?"
"Yes." Yuuki Asuna nodded. "Just like the zombie Dungeon, it's in my inventory. I can submit it and clear at any time."
Iwanaga Kotoko's eyes flicked to the hole in the wall and the mess in the room. She did not need an explanation to guess the situation.
"Sato escaped. Do we chase him?"
Asagiri did not answer immediately.
Instead, he quickly summarized the Ajin abilities and their current state, then asked calmly.
"What do you think? Let's vote."
Yuuki Asuna answered without hesitation.
"Sato took a loss from you today. He'll definitely mark us as targets. He's already hard enough to deal with. If he becomes a Player and grows, the consequences are unimaginable."
Her eyes sharpened.
"We eliminate him."
"Phantom and I share the same opinion," Kotoko said, then her tone turned more analytical. "But…"
"An ability that can damage Sato mentally without killing him… that's basically only my Undead Touch."
She tapped her finger lightly against her mask, thinking.
"Those three Ajin have been tortured by scientific experiments. Their mental strength will be far above ordinary people. Alice's exclusive skill won't work, and my Netherworld Grip has physical damage attributes. It would kill them directly."
Her gaze narrowed.
"The key target is Sato. Tanaka Koji and Nagai Kei are Ajin too, but they shouldn't be Players. We don't need to deal with all three. We only need Sato."
"Hm." Yuuki Asuna nodded slowly, mapping it out. "To succeed, we have to split them."
She looked at Kato Megumi.
"You handle Nagai Kei later. I'll deal with Tanaka Koji. We need to separate them from Sato, or at least prevent them from helping him."
"Understood," Kato said simply.
Asagiri looked at the broken wall and spoke in a steady voice.
"Then we move."
His tone tightened, cold and decisive.
"Eliminate Sato."
…
A few minutes later, they entered a long corridor that looked like a slaughterhouse.
Bodies of mobile unit members littered the floor. Blood stained the ground. Bullet holes chewed up both walls.
"Aside from running, where can he even go?"
Asagiri walked at the front, stepping over a corpse without slowing down. His eyes scanned the corridor, calm and sharp.
"With the Anti-Ajin Special Forces controlling the metal doors, this area should be sealed. Where did Sato and the others hide…"
He was halfway through the thought when the trap sprung.
Three "bodies" slumped against the wall suddenly moved.
Arms lifted.
Three automatic rifles snapped up, aimed directly at Asagiri.
"Nagai. Tanaka. Fire!"
Sato, disguised as a corpse, pulled the trigger first. Nagai Kei and Tanaka Koji followed instantly.
At the same time, Sato and Tanaka Koji summoned their IBMs.
Two humanoid figures made of black particles appeared and surged forward side by side.
Asagiri did not flinch.
He looked like he had been waiting for this exact moment.
With a smooth, almost elegant motion, he caught the hem of his black trench coat and pulled it into position.
Despite appearing like ordinary fabric, it swallowed the bullets.
Every rifle round was blocked, as if by magic.
The Hunter's Trench Coat had resistance comparable to Human Asura and Asagiri himself, including resistance to gunfire.
"Disperse!"
The instant Sato saw the bullets fail, he knew something was wrong. He shouted the warning as his body rolled hard to the side.
In the same instant, Asagiri moved.
He seized the two charging IBMs, one in each hand, and slammed them into the wall with violent force.
Bang!
Tanaka Koji barely dodged.
Nagai Kei was not fast enough.
One of the IBMs, thrown one handed by Asagiri, smashed into him like a wrecking ball. Nagai Kei's body hit the wall and he died on the spot.
"Persona, Human Asura."
.....
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