After confirming that Sakuragawa Rikka had left, Asagiri finally let out a sigh and spoke slowly.
"Ah, acting cool is really tiring."
Yuuki Asuna, who had been worried just a mont ago, imdiately rolled her eyes and said in exasperation,
"I thought you were sighing for so serious reason. I was worried for nothing."
"If I didn't act like I was perfectly fine, what if Sakuragawa Rikka decided to attack us?"
Asagiri smiled and explained as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Neither side is in great shape right now. Even though I can still use [Supre Magic Bullet] one more ti, the Dungeon has only just begun. Blowing every trump card this early would be idiotic."
"That's true."
Yuuki Asuna nodded, then asked curiously,
"Right. After [Supre Magic Bullet] erased Chris Walker, why did it suddenly turn downward?"
"Oh, that? Nothing major."
Asagiri waved a hand and casually said sothing so shocking that Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato gumi all froze.
"It went to look for the source of the supernatural force that turned Kyozan ntal Hospital into this."
"Huh?"
Seeing the three girls' blank expressions, Asagiri explained in a matter of fact tone,
"Isn't that normal? [Supre Magic Bullet] is an attack that severs an enemy's 'immortality.' Chris Walker wasn't an independent lifeform. He was a monster born from the source of the supernatural corruption here. To stop him from reappearing like that chef did, [Supre Magic Bullet] naturally followed his aura and attacked the source directly, erasing the part of its power that had produced him."
"Wait..."
Even the well inford Iwanaga Kotoko looked dumbfounded after hearing that.
"So [Supre Magic Bullet] isn't really a bullet. It's a self tracking cruise missile? Does that an the source of the supernatural corruption in this Dungeon has already been destroyed by you?"
"No."
Asagiri shook his head.
"Even if it has special properties, power is still power. Erasing Chris Walker's existence and cutting off the possibility of him reviving again was already close to its limit. The source that turned Kyozan ntal Hospital into this hasn't been destroyed, but..."
He paused, then changed the topic.
"From the direction [Supre Magic Bullet] traveled, we can confirm that the source lies below us."
"Below, huh..."
Yuuki Asuna leaned against the wall to rest as she thought aloud.
"The clear condition this ti is escaping Kyozan ntal Hospital, but the source of the supernatural corruption is several floors underground. That ans we can't escape outward while also investigating the hidden truth of this Dungeon..."
She looked at Asagiri, lightly pursed her lips, and asked in a soft voice,
"Leader, this ti... are we still going for the perfect clear?"
"Not this ti."
For once, Asagiri did not give his usual imdiate yes. His answer was decisive.
"According to normal ga design, hidden objectives always co with enemies stronger than the ones in the main route. Escaping Kyozan ntal Hospital is the main objective, and the strongest enemy on that route should already be Chris Walker. I don't know what's underground, but whatever is there has to be even worse than him. That's beyond what we can safely handle at this stage. The risk is too high."
"Mm, I agree."
Iwanaga Kotoko nodded.
"This ti is completely different from last ti. In the last Dungeon, even if things went bad, we could still choose to clear at any ti. But here, even if Leader uses his reversal ability and gives us another chance, we still can't instantly fulfill the clear objective if we're trapped underground. We can't gamble on that."
"Then it's settled. We're not going underground."
Kato gumi clearly let out a sigh of relief.
Chris Walker had simply been too terrifying.
From the system's perspective, a monster like him probably was never ant to be defeated at all. He was the type of existence Players were supposed to flee from the mont they saw him, sothing placed in the Dungeon purely to create pressure and terror.
It was only because Asagiri possessed [Supre Magic Bullet], a skill that completely exceeded the strength scale of Players at this phase, that he had managed to erase him. It was basically the equivalent of bringing a cheat weapon into a forced death scene and instantly deleting the boss.
A unique beauty born from overwhelming stats and a broken chanic.
"Now then, let's take a look at the diary Sakuragawa Rikka gave us."
Hearing Asagiri say that, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly rembered sothing and quickly asked,
"Right. Why do you know her?"
"I don't know her. I just know what she looks like and what her na is."
"...That's such a perfunctory answer. Forget it. Let's just read the diary."
The topic was swept aside in only a few words.
Yuuki Asuna and Kato gumi were just as curious as Kotoko about how Asagiri knew Sakuragawa Rikka's identity, but it was only curiosity. If he wanted to explain, he would. If he did not, then they would not pry. It was not important.
They had already gone through enough life and death together to entrust each other with their lives and their absolute trust.
"Let's see..."
Asagiri opened the black covered diary. The edges of several pages were stained with dried blood, but it was still readable.
[Today, another two experints were conducted, but both failed. Why are those idiots upstairs sending down waste that does not even et the minimum experintal standards? Did they seriously think any random ntal patient could withstand this burden?]
The mont she read the first paragraph, Iwanaga Kotoko's expression changed. Her earlier question surfaced again.
"So that's it..."
She frowned and muttered to herself,
"The experints failed. What exactly counts as the qualification for this experint...? Could it be..."
Asagiri turned the page.
[The first successful subject has finally appeared. I truly never expected that sickly cannibal lunatic would possess a soul with this level of toughness. Even after being twisted to the extre, it still did not collapse, and it could even speak. Even though all it said were aningless curses, there is no doubt that this is the first true breakthrough toward success.]
Seeing this, Iwanaga Kotoko finally confird her suspicion, and disgust appeared plainly in her eyes.
"They're actually creating evil spirits by force..."
"Creating evil spirits by force?"
Kato gumi looked startled.
"Can sothing like that really be done?"
"Of course."
Iwanaga Kotoko sighed, her expression growing grave.
"The Entity we encountered in that Yokai request Leader and I handled before was also an artificially created existence. It was just that the serial killer responsible for that case had no real idea what he was doing, and a lot of accidental conditions lined up by chance. That's why it succeeded."
She paused, her eyes cold.
"But here, under Kyozan ntal Hospital, they were deliberately trying to create supernatural entities through sothing resembling scientific experintation. They're disgusting."
"Keep reading."
Asagiri flipped to the next entry.
[Headquarters sent soone down today. They injected Subject One with so kind of reagent. Strange. Weren't we supposed to twist this bastard's soul to the limit and then kill him so he would beco a true evil spirit? Still, that doesn't matter. That reagent improved Subject One's physical functions, which will make continuing the torture much more convenient.]
[Subject One, Subject Two, Subject Three... There are nearly ten successful subjects now. However, the one I find most satisfactory is still Subject Two. Among all of them, he looks the most normal, but it turns out he can control that thing, and his soul is unimaginably resilient. Even after enduring so much tornt, he still retains a basic level of reason. Truly extraordinary experintal material.]
[Subject Four's combat ability is terrifying. He was already monstrous while alive, and his soul was twisted enough from the start. Headquarters sent soone to inject him with that mysterious reagent as well, then ordered him to be sealed inside the anesthetic chamber. Every ti I pass by it, I can't help but sigh. How could a thing like that ever be born among human beings? I heard even small caliber firearm rounds can't penetrate his body. He is a complete monster.]
When Asagiri turned to the next page, the writing changed.
The previous pages had all been written in black ballpoint pen. But here, the letters were dark red, as though written with a finger dipped in blood.
[Heh. We were all fools. So this is the final step of the experint. Those people at Headquarters never intended to create a re supernatural being from the start. They wanted...]
The sentence ended there.
Asagiri turned the next page.
On it, in dark red lettering far ssier than before, were only a few lines.
[Don't go to the fifth underground floor! Don't go near that place! Absolutely do not go there!]
That was the end of the diary.
After reading everything, Iwanaga Kotoko showed no pity for the writer at all. Her expression remained cold and analytical.
"If the contents of this diary are real, then we can roughly confirm sothing now. The 'ntal patients' wandering this hospital are not pure evil spirits. They are monsters whose bodies were modified after being injected with so kind of mysterious reagent."
She looked up at the others.
"The hospital riot recorded in the news was most likely the final step. Those ntal patients broke free, slaughtered the staff and the other patients, and then beca contaminated by supernatural power, turning into the things we are seeing now."
She paused.
"But the most important point is this."
Her eyes grew darker.
"Subject Four refers to Chris Walker. We've already seen for ourselves how terrifying he is. Yet in the diary writer's eyes, Subject Two was even more satisfactory than Chris Walker."
She slowly finished the thought.
"So what exactly... is Subject Two?"
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]
User Comments
0 comments from readers