Chapter 208: War

"What kind of monster is this guy...?"

The Black Watch members clenched their teeth. They had just unloaded a barrage of bullets into "Shadow," yet failed to leave so much as a scratch on him. Despair had already begun to spread through their ranks.

The next second, however, two of them pulled grenades from their waists. Their left arms suddenly swelled, tearing apart their black tactical suits, and with the force of speeding trucks, they charged straight at Asagiri.

"Persona, Alice."

Faced with the suicidal assault of the two Black Watch members, Asagiri simply crushed the tarot card marked with [Death] and summoned Alice once more.

"Could you please die for me?"

The moment Alice’s sweet and lovely voice rang out, the eyes of the two charging members instantly dimmed. They did not even have time to pull the pins from their grenades before their bodies dropped to the floor. At the same time, the rest of the Black Watch members also lost their breath, their lives snuffed out in an instant.

Only the squad Commander remained standing.

His eyes were filled with disbelief, as though he could not comprehend what had just happened.

"As expected."

Asagiri did not look surprised in the slightest, as though he had anticipated this outcome all along.

As his own mental strength had grown, the effect of Alice’s exclusive skill had also improved. Back then, it could only instantly kill a small number of Black Watch members with relatively low mental strength. Now, it was capable of erasing most of an entire squad in one stroke.

The reason Alice had managed to kill every Black Watch member except the squad Commander was simple.

Their mental strength had dropped.

The main reason, of course, was the injection of those strange reagents. Their bodies had been enhanced, but their minds had become unstable. On top of that, from the very beginning of the battle, Asagiri had stood there immune to all of their attacks, not suffering even the slightest injury.

Their will had broken.

Put simply, the Black Watch members had already been mentally crushed.

Only the squad Commander had not injected the physical enhancement serum, which was why he managed to survive Alice’s ability.

However...

He would not last much longer.

"Why...? Why are you standing in our way?!"

The Black Watch squad Commander clenched his fists and stared at Asagiri.

"We fight for the higher evolution of humanity, to save this world and all mankind. Why are you obstructing us...?!"

"Oh? Moral blackmail?"

Asagiri’s figure blurred. In an instant, he appeared before the squad Commander, grabbed him by the throat with one hand, and lifted him into the air.

"Fortunately, I have no morals. Otherwise, I might really have been blackmailed by you."

"Cough... cough..."

Inside the tactical helmet, the squad Commander’s face turned red. His legs struggled wildly in midair, yet even in a state of suffocation, he still forced himself to draw the pistol from his waist, aimed it at Asagiri’s chest, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

"I already told you. Firearms are useless against me."

Asagiri shook his head indifferently. Looking at the squad Commander’s face as it gradually turned purple from lack of oxygen, he spoke in a calm voice.

"If you people can claim to act for the sake of all humanity while sacrificing innocent caregivers in this hospital, then of course I can kill you for my own benefit."

"Whose ideology is right, whose is wrong? I do not care in the slightest about such boring questions."

He paused for only a moment before twisting the man’s neck.

"Alright. It’s over."

...

At the same time, in another area.

"There!"

Three Black Watch members moving in formation spotted the crimson figure ahead and immediately raised their automatic rifles, opened fire, and swept the area with bullets.

"Bang bang bang!"

The Black Watch were elites among elites. They had experience dealing with cursed entities. At this moment, the three of them did not simply aim at one point and fire together. Instead, they created three separate streams of gunfire from three different angles, sealing off Yuuki Asuna’s path completely.

"Wind Blessing!"

Yuuki Asuna did not dodge.

She simply cast [Wind Blessing] on herself and on Gleaming Light. As her body grew lighter, her speed instantly rose to an entirely new level, and she charged straight through the rain of bullets.

As the bullets struck her, Yuuki Asuna’s body remained as steady as Asagiri’s when he tanked gunfire with bullet resistance. Hidden in the shadows, Sakurakawa Rikka felt sharp pain flash across her body, like being pelted with toy bullets.

Although Yuuki Asuna did not possess bullet resistance, she did have the special passive effect of [Class: Flash Blade]. The faster she moved, the higher her defense, strength, and other physical attributes rose.

At full speed under [Wind Blessing], Yuuki Asuna’s defense was actually the highest among the four members of the team, even surpassing Asagiri’s.

Her combat philosophy was simple.

The best defense was offense.

Three flashes of sword light streaked out. In less than a second, Yuuki Asuna stabbed three times and took the lives of all three Black Watch members.

At that same moment, several Black Watch members approached from behind Sakurakawa Rikka and Iwanaga Kotoko.

"Target acquired!"

They raised their guns without hesitation and opened fire at the two girls.

Yet the next second, something happened that none of them could have imagined.

The bullets seemed to strike an invisible barrier and stopped cold, unable to reach either Iwanaga Kotoko or Sakurakawa Rikka.

"Is your mental strength too low to even see my Black Particles?"

To the Black Watch members, the space in front of them had seemed completely empty. In reality, it had already been covered by a dense layer of Black Particles summoned by Iwanaga Kotoko, forming a black wall that blocked the hail of bullets.

The nature of Black Particles was extremely peculiar. Only those with sufficient mental strength could truly perceive them. Because they had injected the physical enhancement serum, the Black Watch members, who should originally have been able to perceive the Black Particles, could no longer see them at all. They had assumed the rear attack would succeed.

And that was not the only thing they failed to notice.

Kato Megumi suddenly appeared behind them.

She held a dark purple cursed dagger in her right hand and an Indian tomahawk in her left. Although her close combat ability was not on the same level as Yuuki Asuna’s or Asagiri’s, these Black Watch members, even after their physical functions had been enhanced, were caught completely off guard at point blank range.

They had no chance to resist.

In less than two seconds, Kato Megumi killed them all.

"Done."

Seeing Kato Megumi’s calm expression after killing several Black Watch members, a trace of surprise appeared in Sakurakawa Rikka’s eyes.

"I originally thought that, given your age and the personalities you’ve shown, you would still hesitate when it came to killing people. I didn’t expect..."

Kato Megumi shook her head and interrupted softly.

"Leader said Black Watch is the enemy, and this is war. In war, you cannot hesitate or waver in front of the enemy."

"That’s true, but to actually be able to do it so decisively..."

Iwanaga Kotoko raised a hand and cut Sakurakawa Rikka off, saying in an easy tone,

"Anyone who couldn’t do that is probably already dead in the first phase of the Dungeon."

"This is the late stage of Phase Two. We’ve survived multiple dangerous Dungeons and are still standing here. That’s not just because of our stats."

As she finished speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko looked at Yuuki Asuna, who had already dealt with the three Black Watch members and was walking back toward them, and said with a smile,

"Alright, the cleanup is basically done. Let’s go meet up with Leader at the main entrance of Kyozan Mental Hospital."

...

Ten minutes later, at the entrance of Kyozan Mental Hospital.

"Leader, we’re back."

Hearing Iwanaga Kotoko’s voice, Asagiri, who was standing by the main entrance, turned around. After confirming that none of the three girls were injured, he nodded with a smile.

"Good. Then it’s time to clear the Dungeon."

Just as Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and the others were about to step out through the main entrance of Kyozan Mental Hospital, they suddenly heard Sakurakawa Rikka call out behind them.

"Wait."

"Hm? What is it?"

Seeing Asagiri’s smiling face, Sakurakawa Rikka’s eyes grew slightly complicated, and she slowly spoke.

"Your name is...?"

"Miyamizu Mitsuha."

"Huh?"

Sakurakawa Rikka froze for a moment, then frowned slightly.

"That sounds like a girl’s name. Is that really your name?"

"Just a meme."

Asagiri waved his hand, then pointed at Iwanaga Kotoko beside him and said with a smile,

"My name is Utsunomiya Asagiri. But since you already know her name and what we look like, after we return to the real world, won’t you be able to find out the names of the other three sooner or later if you investigate a little?"

A faint smile appeared on Sakurakawa Rikka’s face, and she shook her head.

"I don’t want to do anything that would make you believe I have hostile intentions."

"What, afraid of tasting my Supreme Magic Bullet?"

"I am afraid."

Sakurakawa Rikka nodded seriously, then continued,

"As agreed, let’s exchange information."

Asagiri smiled carelessly.

"You already know most of what we know, don’t you? So..."

"I’m not talking about you giving me information. I mean I will tell you what I know."

Sakurakawa Rikka looked at the four of them and slowly said,

"While you were heading upward, I used my exclusive talent to create a clone... and sent it to the deepest part of Kyozan Mental Hospital."

"The Fifth Floor underground."

.....

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