Chapter 397: Carryable Priest
"Actually, there is another way."
Iwanaga Kotoko glanced at Yamauchi Sakura, who lay on the bed with blurred consciousness, and spoke in an emotionless tone.
"Let's kill March."
"Huh?"
Yuuki Asuna's expression changed upon hearing this, and she immediately voiced her opposition.
"How can we do that? She's our teammate..."
"But she's also a burden."
Iwanaga Kotoko raised her fair index finger and interrupted Yuuki Asuna.
Although her attitude was not forceful, it carried an air of absolute, rational ruthlessness.
"The sustainability March provides for our team is indeed important, but judging from the current situation, the burden she brings to the team far outweighs the help she can provide."
"Besides, her dying in the Dungeon won't be a real death. She will simply clear the Dungeon with the minimum score."
"But..."
"She can't even hold on through the snowfield stage. What about the volcano afterward? The excessively hot environment will cause severe dehydration. Even if she can barely manage to survive the snowfield, she will only slow the team down in the lava volcano region."
Iwanaga Kotoko pointed at Yamauchi Sakura lying on the bed and spoke with a serious expression.
"With her physical fitness, she definitely cannot reach the evacuation point, let alone the evacuation point we need to go to, which is in the central region of the island and serves as the hidden mission objective."
"She cannot keep up with the intensity of this Dungeon."
"Indeed."
Asagiri raised his hand to stop Yuuki Asuna, who still wanted to say something, and spoke softly.
"From a rational perspective, rather than risking the consecutive use of the Supreme Magic Bullet, it would be better to abandon March directly to ensure we have enough stamina to deal with potential enemies after passing through the snowfield region."
Hearing Asagiri's words, Iwanaga Kotoko sighed.
Yuuki Asuna's face, however, lit up with joy.
Because she, along with Kato Megumi nearby, could tell that Asagiri, as the captain, did not approve of abandoning Yamauchi Sakura.
"In this Dungeon, aside from sustainability, March doesn't really help much and is even a burden. But as I have said before, we are different from ordinary Player teams. There are certain principles that must never be broken."
Asagiri looked directly into Iwanaga Kotoko's eyes and spoke word by word.
"A Persona is the embodiment of the user's inner power, and this power represents a firm will that will not change no matter what happens."
"I will use this power to take all of you to clear this Dungeon, until we beat this death game."
"I knew you would say that."
Iwanaga Kotoko shrugged, acting indifferent.
"In any case, as the team's strategist, it is my responsibility to make suggestions. As for what choice to make, that is your right as the captain. No matter what you choose, I will follow your arrangements."
Seeing Iwanaga Kotoko's indifferent expression, Kato Megumi pursed her lips and smiled.
"Actually, you said it without hesitation because you know Asagiri's personality, right?"
"Because you know he won't abandon any of us, that's why you proposed this seemingly ruthless and cold suggestion. You didn't want it to be accepted when you proposed it, yet you still pretend to be ruthlessly rational at a time like this."
"You're being insincere."
"Tch..."
Iwanaga Kotoko's intentions were laid bare by Kato Megumi, and she could not help blushing as she huffed.
"You talk too much."
Kato Megumi stepped forward, rubbed Iwanaga Kotoko's pale golden hair, and smiled gently.
"Good, good, good."
"Stop touching it! Head patting will make me shorter!"
"Did anyone pat your head before?"
"No."
"Then that settles it."
Kato Megumi wore a gentle smile, but her words struck directly at Iwanaga Kotoko's biggest weakness.
"Believing in baseless superstitions won't make you grow taller, you know."
"You..."
Seeing Iwanaga Kotoko grit her teeth and huff, both Yuuki Asuna and Asagiri could not help smiling.
Just then, Yamauchi Sakura, who was lying on the bed, let out a vague murmur.
"Utsunomiya-san... Utsunomiya-san... Asagiri..."
Hearing Yamauchi Sakura's call, Asagiri walked over slowly, only to find that she had not opened her eyes.
She was merely talking in her sleep while unconscious.
"Huh... this girl..."
Iwanaga Kotoko leaned over to the bedside.
Looking at the faint blush on Yamauchi Sakura's face, whether it was because of the sudden transition from the cold environment to a warm room, or for some unspeakable reason, she snorted.
"Could she be having some kind of indescribable dream?"
Asagiri nodded in agreement.
"Hard to say."
"Hard to say, your heads."
Yuuki Asuna walked over and knocked both of them on the head.
Looking at Yamauchi Sakura, who was still in a fuzzy state of consciousness, worry appeared between her brows.
"It's already been five minutes, and she still hasn't woken up. Maintaining Mita World will constantly consume your mental energy."
"If this continues and your mental energy is over consumed, if you can't use it later, or if you can only use the Supreme Magic Bullet once..."
"It's fine."
Asagiri waved his hand, took out two vials from his inventory, opened them, and drank them.
Then he smiled.
"I used stamina and mental energy recovery potions. Although the recovery can't keep up with the consumption rate, as long as I convert the overflowing stamina into mental energy using the Ring of Conversion, the time I can maintain Mita World will be greatly extended."
"Without affecting the number of times I can use the Supreme Magic Bullet, lasting three hours is not a problem."
"That's good."
Yuuki Asuna let out a long sigh of relief and sat on the sofa in the room, finally relaxing.
"Then let's take this opportunity to rest as well."
...
An hour later, Yamauchi Sakura, who was lying on the bed, slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing the pale pink ceiling with flower patterns, she could not help freezing.
"Huh? Where is this..."
"You're not dead. This is Mita's world."
Hearing the voice beside her, Yamauchi Sakura turned her head and saw Asagiri sitting by the bed, looking at her.
"Awake? The carryable priest of the strongest team?"
"Carryable Priest..."
Hearing Utsunomiya Asagiri's description of her, Yamauchi Sakura could not help laughing out loud.
Mainly because her physical stats were limited to the Weak level, so for most of the time in every Dungeon, she was carried by Yuuki Asuna or Utsunomiya Asagiri.
Calling her a Carryable Priest did not seem wrong at all.
"Where are they?"
"They went to the room next door to rest."
"I see..."
Seeing Yamauchi Sakura's still dazed expression, Utsunomiya Asagiri spoke bluntly.
"It's mainly because your sleep talking was too outrageous. Things like Utsunomiya-san, Asagiri, Utsunomiya-san, don't do that, Asuna and the others won't agree to this, and so on."
"Huh?"
Hearing this, Yamauchi Sakura sat up abruptly from the bed, her face flushed red.
She did not look weak in the slightest, and her pupils dilated in shock.
"When I wasn't conscious... I actually said so many outrageous things?"
Utsunomiya Asagiri spread his hands and teased with a smile.
"Look, you woke up instantly, didn't you? I really am a miracle worker. I'm basically a divine doctor."
Seeing the smile on Utsunomiya Asagiri's face, Yamauchi Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, gently stroked her chest, and spoke with a sense of release.
"So you were just joking..."
"Only the last part was made up. The rest were true."
"Huh?"
"Why are you huh-ing again?"
Utsunomiya Asagiri looked at Yamauchi Sakura and said seriously,
"You were the one shouting in your sleep. Do you really have no awareness of it at all? This is truly outrageous."
"And do you know what Asuna and the others had the most issue with?"
Yamauchi Sakura thought about it for a moment, then cautiously asked,
"Is it because they think I harbor improper intentions toward you?"
"Do you take them for blind? Even without today's incident, they could still tell you have evil thoughts about me."
If it were an ordinary girl, she would definitely try her best to deny it, but Yamauchi Sakura had a rather carefree personality.
Even though she felt shy and her face was flushed, she still lifted her face and said defiantly,
"What's evil about it? The feeling of liking someone isn't evil at all."
Utsunomiya Asagiri used only one sentence to crush the Carryable Priest's stubbornness.
"But calling my name while your face is flushed and making sounds that are hard to describe is very evil."
"You... I..."
Yamauchi Sakura's face turned bright red, and she stammered, unable to speak.
After a few seconds, she changed the subject.
"Forget it. Let's talk about it after this Dungeon ends!"
"That's true. I won't waste any more time. I'm going to call them."
Watching Utsunomiya Asagiri's back as he left the room, Yamauchi Sakura gently stroked her chest, her eyes filled with tenderness.
She actually understood.
In this harsh Dungeon environment, she, who could not even run, was a burden to the team.
Even if Utsunomiya Asagiri decided to leave her behind, she would understand.
After all, she would not truly die in the Dungeon.
Besides, this highest difficulty Dungeon was something the other four members of the team had voluntarily signed up for in order to save her.
But even with so many seemingly valid reasons, Utsunomiya Asagiri still chose not to leave her behind.
"As expected..."
Yamauchi Sakura gently bit her lower lip, feeling the throbbing in her chest, and murmured softly,
"He and they... are all very gentle people..."
...
A few minutes later, within the snowy plains of the Dungeon world.
"Roar!"
Like a giant black lizard, the dragon with tiger-like patterns on its skin stood on all fours.
It bit a Player's body in two, casually flung the mangled remains from its mouth, and stared at the five Players retreating opposite it, letting out a deafening roar.
"No... it's no use..."
Seeing the Black Diablos slowly approach the direction where she and the others were standing, and recalling the terrifyingly powerful charge attack the creature had used earlier, a female Player holding a staff looked devastated and desperate.
She collapsed onto the ground and murmured,
"Are we going to die here..."
Just then, the female Player suddenly saw five figures appear in front of the Black Diablos.
Because her vision was obscured by the snow, she could not see clearly.
But the voice of one of them, carrying a relaxed smile as if they were on vacation, drifted through the howling wind and entered the ears of her and her companions.
"Yo? A crawling roarer? And a black subspecies?"
"I really want to taste you."
.....
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