Chapter 363: Still Playing with Chant Magic?
The moment Asagiri activated Castling, he swapped positions with Human Asura, who had originally been at the back of the team.
The pale blue light blooming from the woman's palm was completely blocked by Human Asura's black body.
"A skill with both Holy and Fire damage, huh..."
Through his connection with Human Asura, Asagiri clearly sensed the power attributes the opponent had used.
Just then, the pale woman instantly retreated, narrowly dodging the palm strike swung by Human Asura. She immediately raised both hands and began chanting again.
"Chariot of thunder, gap of the spinning wheel..."
Before the pale woman could finish her chant, she saw a deep red afterimage already closing in on her.
"How could this be..."
The pale woman's expression changed in shock.
She had never expected that even after maintaining a distance of nearly twenty meters from those people, the gap would be closed in an instant.
Facing Shimmering Light as Yuuki Asuna swung it toward her, she, as a mage class, had no choice but to interrupt her chant and retreat to dodge.
However, her movement speed was not on the same level as Yuuki Asuna's.
"Sword Skill, Stardust Splash!"
Eight bright sword beams flashed by, directly severing the pale woman's limbs and head. Even her torso was chopped into several pieces.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
The pale woman's head, floating in midair, was still letting out shrill roars.
Between the body parts that had been severed by Yuuki Asuna, fine, bright red blood vessels suddenly extended, forcibly pulling the shattered body back together in a way that was disgusting to behold, preparing to reassemble it.
However, the battle hardened raid party would not give her a chance to recover her combat ability.
"Holy Cross."
Seeing Asagiri's emotionless black eyes, along with the holy attribute light covering his hands, terror appeared on the pale woman's face. She immediately began chanting.
"Starry Sky..."
"What era is this, and you're still playing with chant magic?"
Asagiri's fists, glowing with Holy Light, fell like raindrops.
Human Asura also appeared at the side at the right moment, its pitch black hands tearing the pale woman's body apart like sharp claws.
The pale woman's screams continued without pause. Combined with her body being torn into fragments, the scene became extremely bloody and brutal.
"March!"
Hearing Asagiri's shout, Yamauchi Sakura immediately stepped forward. She raised her staff and aimed it at the mass of flesh fragments in the air.
"Holy Light!"
The beam of light blooming from the tip of her staff covered the mass of flesh fragments suspended in the air.
The pulsing frequency of all the blood vessels in the entire cave suddenly accelerated, and the color of the heart began to turn brighter and brighter red.
"Sword Skill..."
Yuuki Asuna arrived in front of the heart and was just about to unleash a sword skill to destroy it when Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly spoke up to stop her.
"Violet, wait a moment!"
Hearing Iwanaga Kotoko's words, Yuuki Asuna immediately interrupted the release of her sword skill.
As the heart continued beating, the pale woman, who had originally been melted into nothingness under the Holy Light, began to gather once again in the center of the blood vessel circle.
"You guys withdraw first. Shadow, have Human Asura destroy that heart!"
"Okay."
Asagiri nodded and withdrew from the spherical cave space together with Yuuki Asuna.
Iwanaga Kotoko took a deep breath and controlled the Black Particles, condensing them into a thick, airtight barrier.
After the barrier formed, Human Asura, who was still inside the cave, launched an attack at the huge beating heart.
"Bang!"
The moment the heart exploded, the entire tunnel began shaking violently.
The explosion, carrying powerful Cursed force, slammed directly into the barrier Iwanaga Kotoko had created using Black Particles.
Asagiri steadied Yamauchi Sakura, who had nearly fallen to the ground.
Only after the tremors finally disappeared did he chuckle and say,
"It resurrects infinitely unless the heart is destroyed, and destroying the heart triggers a large explosion with a Curse attribute. Interesting."
"Fortunately, Necro discovered it in time."
"It's not worth mentioning."
Iwanaga Kotoko shook her head and spoke in a calm tone.
"If you hadn't destroyed the enemy's body like that, causing the heart and its connected blood vessels to become eager to help her recover, thereby leaking the Cursed aura contained within, I wouldn't have been able to notice it in time. Compared to that, let's focus on this Dungeon."
"Yeah, that's true."
Yuuki Asuna nodded slightly.
Recalling the battle just now, she frowned.
"The ability that enemy used had nothing to do with Cursed phenomena. It was more like a holy attribute spell, and her fighting style was also like some kind of mage class profession... Is she a Player?"
"No."
Iwanaga Kotoko dispelled the barrier formed by the Black Particles and walked to the entrance of the spherical cave.
She saw that the bright red blood vessels, which had been pulsing nonstop earlier, had shriveled up after the heart burst. Their appearance had changed from bright red to a grayish white color.
In the center of the cave, only a bright red crystalline object remained.
[Soul Crystal (Gray Quality, Unidentifiable): A pure soul crystal. It seems to contain the aura of some kind of spell type ability. If your mental strength reaches the required standard, you can use this crystal to awaken a certain holy attribute ability. It can also be submitted after the Dungeon ends to increase the obtained clearance grade.]
"Soul Crystal..."
Iwanaga Kotoko gently pinched the bright red crystal between her fair index finger and thumb, observing and sensing it carefully. She frowned slightly.
"What a strange thing. It clearly looks like a Cursed object, but the aura it emits is different."
"Let's summarize the information we have."
Asagiri leaned against the wall at the cave entrance and spoke indifferently.
"Logically speaking, abilities like Hadō and Bakudō shouldn't appear in this Dungeon. They are not powers from the same worldview. Being able to use strange powers is a characteristic of Players, but that woman's body was composed of pure Cursed power."
He continued calmly.
"She could even resurrect after being beaten into powder. Only by destroying the corresponding heart could her resurrection be stopped. Moreover, when we first entered the cave, she was inside something like an embryo."
"Those black metal coffins that ordinary people turned into were supplying blood to the creature inside that embryo through blood vessels..."
Iwanaga Kotoko pondered the existing information, her mind racing as she tried to analyze the truth of this Dungeon from the available clues.
But the current situation was far too bizarre.
Even she could not reach a definite conclusion, so she could only try to make speculations.
"First, what's certain is that the one just now was not the Uncontrollables mentioned by the system. After all, with an entrance like that, any normal Player could tell she was an enemy. There was no need for a special prompt."
She lowered her gaze slightly, sorting through her thoughts.
"The pulsing speed of the blood vessels accelerates over time. This might be the process of the embryo developing. As time passes, the enemy inside the embryo might undergo some unexpected changes..."
Her voice slowed.
"So, if the enemy leaves the embryo and leaves this cave-like space, will it still possess that abnormal recovery ability?"
Hearing this, Kato Megumi asked softly,
"Does the so-called Hunt refer to Players hunting these Cursed embryos hidden underground?"
Asagiri nodded noncommittally and spoke softly.
"Perhaps. But what is certain now is that there is more than one embryo. Although this Dungeon has no time limit beyond the overall duration, as time passes, some unknown changes will definitely occur. Therefore, we must clear as many embryos hidden underground as efficiently and quickly as possible. That will also allow us to obtain more Soul Crystals."
"Yeah."
Yuuki Asuna returned Shimmering Light to its scabbard, determination appearing in her eyes.
"Then let's set off."
Several hours later, at the exit of a subway station in Kyoto.
Yuuki Asuna set down Yamauchi Sakura, whom she had been carrying on her back.
Feeling that her physical strength and mental energy were still quite abundant despite nearly six hours of high intensity activity, she smiled and said,
"Fortunately, March provided sustainability. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to keep moving like this and would have had to stop and rest along the way."
Hearing this, Yamauchi Sakura smiled embarrassedly.
"There's no need to thank me specifically. I can't help much in combat, so I can only provide this level of logistical support."
"Although it was hard work, the harvest was bountiful."
Iwanaga Kotoko summoned a Pale Ghost Hand and looked at the seven bright red Soul Crystals placed on it. A sweet and cute smile appeared on her fair and delicate face.
In addition to the first Soul Crystal that could awaken a holy type ability, there were three physical type ability crystals, two fire type ability crystals, and one summon type ability Soul Crystal.
In the process of eliminating the embryos hidden underground, Asagiri and the others also discovered a pattern.
The type of ability a Soul Crystal could awaken was consistent with the type of power used by the creature in the embryo.
Furthermore, after eliminating the embryos hidden underground, the black metal coffins in the surrounding area would disappear, and the dark red blood vessels would turn into a shriveled, lifeless state.
Another thing was that, just as Iwanaga Kotoko had predicted, as time passed, the pulsing speed of the dark red blood vessels continued accelerating.
The Cursed entities in the tunnels, as well as the humanoid creatures inside the embryos that acted like Dungeon bosses, were also becoming stronger and stronger.
"Then let's continue..."
Just as Asagiri said this, a sudden change occurred.
The surrounding ground suddenly began shaking violently.
In the next second, the five members of the team saw the red moon in the sky emit a strange light, followed by a sound like a violently beating heart.
Asagiri signaled Yuuki Asuna and the others to stay alert, while he used Walrider's flight ability to rise into the sky.
What entered his eyes was a scene like hell descending.
.....
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