"Then… alright."
Even with her strong competitive streak, Asuna knew when to stop forcing it. She took a few steps back and yielded the front position to Asagiri.
The mont she did, Kotoko's expression sharpened. A powerful Anomaly aura surged into her senses like a sudden cold draft, and she imdiately warned them.
"Be careful…"
She didn't even get to finish.
A huge skull burst out from a ventilation duct at the corner of the corridor. Its jaw gaped wide, spewing a harsh buzzing sound like electrical interference, and it lunged straight at Asagiri.
"Player!"
Hat Mita's face went pale. Without hesitation, she shoved Asagiri aside and stepped into the skull's path herself.
"It's too late…"
The black glowing skull filled her vision. Hat Mita squeezed her eyes shut, trembling, and a single thought rose through the panic like a last prayer.
I don't want to forget Player…
But the pain never ca.
Instead, there was a dull impact.
Bang!!
Hat Mita stumbled back two steps. After a few seconds, she cautiously cracked her eyes open.
A massive monster was pinned to the wall.
It had a spider's body, with that enormous skull embedded on its back like a twisted shell. Holding it there was a towering black shadow over two ters tall, its body marked with red patterns, its grip unshakable.
"This is…"
Not only Hat Mita and Kind Mita, but Kotoko, gumi, and Asuna all froze in disbelief.
Asuna hurried to Asagiri's side, staring at the Human Asura as it restrained the monster.
"You… you didn't use a summoning device, and you didn't call out the nas Persona or Persona. How did you summon Human Asura?"
Asagiri didn't answer. He simply waved his hand in front of her face.
Asuna blinked, confused.
"What do you an?"
"Just need hands."
Asuna stared at him.
"…I won't comnt on how pretentious that sounded. Could you at least explain it without the gesture?"
Asagiri shook his head, looking far too profound for the situation.
Asuna sighed and decided to cooperate.
"Master, what does this an?"
"Don't speak, act like a master."
"Are you done acting?"
"Almost."
Asagiri chuckled, then his tone turned serious.
"It's simple. I've used it so many tis that my proficiency with my exclusive talent has increased. It won't show on the Player panel, but I can now summon instantly without a device or chanting the Persona's na."
He lifted a finger.
"It costs a certain amount of ntal energy, but there's no wind up."
Then, as if describing sothing perfectly normal, he added, "If I keep improving, I might even be able to summon multiple Personas at the sa ti."
He glanced at Kotoko and gumi.
"Your talents are passive growth types too. You should feel sothing similar. Necro and Phantom, especially."
gumi nodded, voice gentle.
"Mm. Sa for . When I first started using my talent, it drained my stamina and ntal energy quickly. But after entering this Dungeon and using it again, it's clearly less strenuous."
She paused, thinking it through.
"I assud it was because my physical fitness improved, but it hasn't changed that drastically. So it probably is proficiency, better control over consumption."
Kotoko nodded as well.
" too. My sensitivity to Anomaly auras has gotten sharper."
"So that's how it is…"
Asuna nodded, then focused on the struggling spider monster pinned against the wall. Its skull twitched violently, buzzing and rattling as if its entire body was malfunctioning.
"How do we deal with it? That thing doesn't look like it can communicate."
"You kill it."
"Okay."
Asuna tightened her grip on the Exorcist Longsword, aiming for the skull on the monster's back. With her passive growth type exclusive talent Flash, finishing strikes like this were usually left to her whenever an opening appeared.
Just as she moved to thrust, a soft voice rang out, sweet and trembling, like a child trying not to cry.
"Please… please don't kill it, okay…"
Asuna turned toward the sound.
A small girl was hiding in the corner of the corridor, peeking out timidly. Her face was almost identical to Hat Mita and Kind Mita, but younger, rounder, and purely innocent in a way that made it hard to associate her with anything dangerous.
"You're also a Mita?" Asuna asked.
"Um…"
The little Mita stepped out slowly. She glanced at the sword in Asuna's hand, then turned her pleading eyes toward Asagiri.
"Player… could you please not kill it? It's my only friend."
Asagiri didn't respond right away. He turned to Kind Mita, shook his head with exaggerated gravity, and asked in a calm voice.
"Can you explain sothing to ? If this is an 18 romance ga, why does a Mita this young exist?"
"Uh…"
Kind Mita opened her mouth, then couldn't co up with a clean counter. She looked around, saw Kotoko, and suddenly latched onto an idea.
"There are Players who like lolis, aren't there? You're the best example."
"Hey, hey, hey."
Kotoko's eye twitched. She jabbed Kind Mita's shoulder lightly with her staff, bristling.
"What do you an? Where's the loli? I'm a high school student, okay?"
"What!?"
Hat Mita and Kind Mita froze at the sa ti, pupils shaking. Both of them stared at Kotoko, scanning her up and down as if trying to reconcile the data.
Hat Mita's face lit up with sudden understanding.
"Oh, I get it. You're a character from so ga too, right? To get the ga approved, even though you were designed with a loli appearance, they slapped on a high school student setting. So that's how it is."
"So that's how it is, my foot…"
Kotoko looked like she wanted to evaporate on the spot.
gumi, calm as ever, delivered a quiet finishing blow.
"Mm… you're only one ter fifty tall, your face looks like this, and your figure is completely flat. When we first t, anyone would think you're a child."
Kotoko's expression stiffened.
"I…I'm only sixteen. I can still grow! Just watch. I'll definitely be more mature than you and Violet."
"That's nonsense."
Asagiri laughed, piling on with perfect timing.
"Whether you get a second growth spurt is one thing. But surpass them? That's not growth. That would be mutation."
"Mutation… huh? What do you an? I don't want to live anymore, you just dislike my child like figure!"
"Hey, don't talk nonsense."
Asagiri's tone turned serious, and for once, he sounded almost offended on her behalf.
"I told you already. I only have one standard, and that's good looking. I don't dislike you."
He pointed at her calmly.
"You're the one who keeps insisting you'll have a second growth spurt. If you keep emphasizing it, that ans you're the one dissatisfied with your child like figure. So it's not disliking you. It's you disliking yourself."
Kotoko froze.
Then her eyes widened like she'd been struck by enlightennt.
"So that's how it is… I should be more confident. I understand now!"
Asuna exhaled slowly and rubbed her forehead.
"Alright, you two… enough. Is the cody show over? Can we get back to work?"
"Alright."
Asagiri's smile vanished. In an instant, he switched into calm, focused Player mode, as fast as changing a Persona.
He walked behind the Human Asura and studied the spider skull monster struggling against its grip.
"This thing…"
He listened to the buzzing interference pouring from the skull's mouth and narrowed his eyes.
"It's probably a BUG, or so kind of program conflict in this ga world, right? That electric noise sounds like an error prompt. If you listen closely, it's almost the sa."
Then he turned toward the small Mita.
"What is this place? Why do you call it your friend?"
"Here… this is my ho…"
The little Mita seed to trust Asagiri instinctively, the sa way Hat Mita and Kind Mita did. Her voice was soft and shaky.
"But… I don't know why my ho suddenly beca like this. I can't get out. I'm scared…"
She glanced at the monster, then lowered her head.
"Only it stayed with ."
Kind Mita's expression turned thoughtful.
"Your ho beca an endlessly looping corridor. That's definitely a bug, and you, as the Mita tied to this ho, were probably flagged as a bug too."
Her gaze flicked to the pinned monster.
"Is that why this thing doesn't attack you? Because it's also a product of the bug?"
"I don't know…"
The little Mita took two small steps forward and looked up at Asagiri, eyes brimming with hope.
"Big Brother… can you stay here and be my second friend? I'm really scared…"
"It's okay."
Asagiri reached out and gently patted her head, smiling.
"I can't stay here, but you can co with us."
The little Mita's face lit up.
gumi watched the scene, expression unreadable. Then she spoke in her usual quiet, precise tone, and the words made Asuna and Kotoko's hearts tighten a little.
"Doesn't it feel like… the way Leader is clearing this Dungeon is just eting different Mitas, bringing them along, and building a Mita harem?"
.....
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