Chapter 362: At the End of the Tunnel
"Hiss..."
Seeing what had just happened, even Yuuki Asuna, who had fought alongside Asagiri many times, could not help showing a complicated expression. She sighed softly.
"Why do you look so unsatisfied? Are you a battle junkie?"
"Not a battle junkie."
Asagiri shook his head and explained with a serious face.
"It's mainly because this guy felt really good to hit. Even though it was wearing armor, it had the perfect balance between softness and hardness. It was practically a natural punching bag."
Yuuki Asuna rolled her eyes when she heard this, sounding slightly helpless.
"Are you seriously critiquing it?"
Asagiri replied with a serious expression.
"Critique is a form of respect for the enemy."
Yuuki Asuna pursed her lips, wanting to say something but stopping herself.
"You wouldn't happen to be... giving this guy one of those cringe-worthy nicknames again, would you?"
"That's not necessary. Given its strength, it can't even make it into my collection guide."
"So your abstract behavior has requirements for enemy strength?"
"That goes without saying. Not just anything is qualified to enter my collection guide."
Asagiri picked up the dark red katana from the ground and took out his phone. Sure enough, the Eye Icon APP displayed the specific information for this item, proving that the katana was equipment certified by the system.
[Cursed Longblade (Blue Quality): A longblade stained with some kind of Cursed power. It possesses a special effect that can damage spiritual entities, but will cause negative effects on the user's mental state during use.]
[Note: This equipment can be submitted during Dungeon settlement to increase the clearance rating.]
After reading the effects of the dark red katana, Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna beside him had only one thought.
They had never seen such trash equipment.
Thinking about it carefully, this was the first time equipment with negative effects had appeared, and the positive effect was also trash among trash.
The Exorcist Longsword, which Yuuki Asuna had long since stopped using, was also a Blue quality weapon, yet it could similarly damage spiritual entities without any negative effects.
After all, this was already the fourth stage.
What Player had not mastered some way to deal with spiritual entities by now?
It was only a question of whether they were skilled or not. It was definitely not something impossible.
"Here, catch."
"Eh?"
Yamauchi Sakura subconsciously caught the dark red katana Asagiri handed over, only then coming back to her senses.
"This thing... you want to give it to me? You guys could submit it yourselves..."
"We don't really need it."
Asagiri shrugged and smiled indifferently.
"With our style of action, after this Dungeon ends, the system will definitely give us a very high level reward. Submitting scraps like this won't be much use anyway, so it's better to give everything that can increase the rating to you, since you are the weakest and will have the lowest clearance rating."
Yamauchi Sakura looked moved when she heard this, but as she put away the red katana, she playfully stuck out her tongue.
"Although I am quite weak, the way you say that is a bit hurtful."
Asagiri smiled and replied,
"Then how should I put it? Low EQ, you are very weak right now. High EQ, are you interested in becoming a Lettuce Priest, and joining me, the Eroge Shooter, the Sausage Swordsman, the Bread Warlock, and the Cheese Assassin on a journey to challenge the Evil Demon King?"
"Lettuce Priest... hahahaha..."
Seeing Yamauchi Sakura laugh so hard that her shoulders trembled and tears nearly came out, Kato Megumi beside her was infected by her laughter and could not help laughing out loud as well.
It would have been fine if she had not laughed, but once she did, Yuuki Asuna could not hold it in either.
Soon, everyone failed to hold back.
"Hahahahaha..."
"What is everyone laughing at?"
Looking at the beautiful scene of four different kinds of girls laughing brightly, Asagiri merely complained with a look of disgust.
"It's fortunate there are no other Players in this tunnel. Otherwise, hearing your laughter, people would think there were four female ghosts in here."
Yuuki Asuna, while laughing, did not forget to express dissatisfaction with her nickname.
"I don't want to be a sausage..."
"But you like eating sausages."
"You..."
Just as Yuuki Asuna's pretty face flushed red, leaving her too embarrassed to know what to say, Yamauchi Sakura actively raised her hand.
"I also like eating sausages!"
"Uh..."
Yuuki Asuna was at a loss for words, not knowing how to explain it to Yamauchi Sakura. She could only glare at Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko, who were looking at her with teasing smiles, then force a smile and nod.
"Yes... sausages are quite delicious..."
"Pfft..."
Iwanaga Kotoko covered her mouth and chuckled. She leaned over to Yuuki Asuna with an extremely punchable, provocative attitude, then tilted her chin up.
"Milk is also delicious, right?"
"You..."
Yuuki Asuna reached out and pinched Iwanaga Kotoko's fair, tender cheek, only letting go after the other party begged for mercy.
Then she coughed twice and returned to a serious expression.
"The recovery ability of that evil spirit just now shouldn't have belonged to it, right?"
"Yeah. It was most likely power provided by these blood vessels."
Asagiri scanned the blood vessels in the tunnel, his tone flat.
"It can make evil spirits recover quickly, but not to the point where they can't be eliminated. It should just count as a mob in this Dungeon. Get ready. We need to move at full speed."
"Alright."
The moment Asagiri said this, Iwanaga Kotoko jumped directly onto his back, pointed her cane forward, and declared with great momentum,
"Let's go!"
"Why did you jump up there..."
Seeing the slightly jealous expressions of Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi, Asagiri reached out and hoisted Iwanaga Kotoko up.
The latter immediately understood and climbed onto his shoulders.
In this awkward position, Asagiri gave an explanation that Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Yamauchi Sakura all found abstract but completely irrefutable, unexpected, yet logical.
"My mobility is very strong, and Necro's body is very light. Moving in this position won't hinder me at all. Plus, I can make up for her lack of speed, and she can provide control and fire support from a high vantage point. She's basically my external turret. It's invincible."
Yuuki Asuna fell silent.
"...I don't know what to say. It's hard to comment. March, come on up."
"Okay."
After Yamauchi Sakura was carried on Yuuki Asuna's back, she looked at Asagiri's back, now fused with Iwanaga Kotoko, and a thoughtful look could not help appearing in her eyes.
She kind of wanted to be carried like that too...
Before setting off, Yamauchi Sakura suddenly remembered something and leaned close to Yuuki Asuna's ear to ask,
"By the way, do you know what the Ekiben position is?"
"Ek... Ekiben..."
Yuuki Asuna turned red from her face to her ears in an instant.
At that moment, her brain began spinning rapidly.
Why would Yamauchi Sakura ask this?
Could it be that she had the ability to monitor the Hotel room?
When she had been picked up by Asagiri and did that kind of thing... had Sakura seen it?
That was not right.
If that were the case, Yamauchi Sakura would have only seen the position without knowing what it was called.
How could she suddenly ask such a question?
Besides, Sakura did not have the ability to monitor remotely.
"Um... I'm not too sure."
"Is that so? Then I'll ask Necro when the time comes."
"Yes, yes, yes. You go ask her."
Yuuki Asuna nodded repeatedly.
Watching Iwanaga Kotoko riding on Asagiri's shoulders, she let out a sigh of relief and thought silently in her heart.
The heavy responsibility of educating Sakura on this kind of knowledge is in your hands.
...
Half an hour later, deep inside the underground tunnel.
Based on Asagiri and his team's speed, as well as the structure of Kyoto's subway tunnels, they should have arrived at another platform long ago.
However, incredibly strangely, the tunnel seemed endless, stretching on and on without end.
Asagiri possessed Human Asura's traits and would not be affected by mental abilities, so this was not an illusion.
As they went deeper, the red blood vessels around them became denser, the Cursed entities blocking their path became stronger, and the pulse frequency of the blood vessels also increased over time.
And when they finally reached the end of the tunnel, the scene that appeared before them made Kato Megumi, Yuuki Asuna, and Yamauchi Sakura, who had already been baptized by several Dungeons and possessed extremely strong mental fortitude, feel intense nausea and disgust.
"What on earth is this..."
Inside a massive spherical space, dense blood vessels on the surrounding walls connected to a giant, constantly pulsing, bright red heart.
From the surface of that heart, several blood vessels thicker than a human body extended outward and connected to the surface of a translucent sphere covered by a thin membrane, seemingly carrying out an act similar to blood supply.
"Thump, thump... thump... thump..."
At that moment, the heart's pulse frequency suddenly accelerated.
A look of vigilance appeared in Iwanaga Kotoko's deep purple eyes. She immediately jumped off Asagiri's shoulders and warned,
"Watch out. The Cursed aura around us suddenly got stronger!"
The moment Iwanaga Kotoko finished speaking, the thin membrane sphere suddenly burst open.
From the translucent, viscous liquid, a woman crawled out.
She wore white cloth garments, with long black hair reaching almost to the ground. Her skin was exceptionally pale, her pupils were nothing but blank white, and the blood vessels across her body showed an eerie dark purple.
"Oh, ruler, mask of flesh and blood..."
Just as the woman was halfway through her chant, Asagiri had already rushed in front of her, wielding the Rope Dart of Deathly Grievance, ready to interrupt her spellcasting.
However, at that very moment, the woman suddenly revealed an incredibly eerie smile.
"You fell for it."
Immediately afterward, she raised her right palm.
A pale blue light bloomed within it and struck toward Asagiri's body.
However, facing this instant cast attack that had abandoned chanting, Asagiri also revealed the hint of a smile.
"You like smiling?"
"Castling."
…..
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