Chapter 251: Strategy for the Boss Battle

Led by Kato Megumi, the four person team entered the fire escape and made their way from the seventh floor all the way up to the twenty fourth.

"Phew... it’s so hot..."

Yuuki Asuna had one hand holding Kato Megumi’s and the other gripping her longsword, so she could not even spare a hand to fan herself.

From the seventh floor to the twenty second, it was still manageable. It was stuffy and sweltering, but the temperature stayed close to forty degrees and did not continue rising. But the moment they passed the twenty second floor, the heat surged sharply. It felt like stepping straight into a sauna, with the temperature climbing past seventy degrees.

Even Iwanaga Kotoko, who normally insisted on wearing long Western style dresses, dressed like an exquisite Barbie doll, and once claimed that outward splendor was life itself, finally gave in under the heat and changed her [Phantom Garb] into hot pants and a sleeveless top.

Yuuki Asuna glanced at Asagiri. Even though he was still wearing black long pants, a hunter’s windbreaker, and a dark gray mask, he looked completely unfazed, which made her ask in concern,

"Aren’t you hot?"

Asagiri shook his head and answered with a profound look.

"A calm mind is naturally cool. If you feel hot, it means your mind is not calm enough."

"Are you some enlightened monk who’s grasped a kind of Zen...?"

Yuuki Asuna shook her head helplessly. Just then, Kato Megumi finally came to a stop. She stood at the entrance to the fire escape on the twenty fourth floor and did not take another step.

"Looks like this is the place."

Asagiri looked at Alice, who had been following behind the four of them while carrying a teddy bear that kept blurting out dirty jokes, and said softly,

"Pull her out."

"Okay, Big Brother."

Alice nodded obediently, then walked up to Kato Megumi and gently poked her with one fair little finger. Immediately, the confusion in Kato Megumi’s eyes faded, and her mind left the underwater illusion and returned to reality.

Once her consciousness cleared, Kato Megumi pointed at the fire escape door on the twenty fourth floor and said softly,

"In the illusion, it was a wooden door... and that red light was spilling out through the crack in the door..."

Seeing that Kato Megumi, Yuuki Asuna, and Asagiri were all looking at her, Iwanaga Kotoko, as the resident expert on the supernatural, smiled brightly.

"It seems it’s time for another educational lesson from the God of Wisdom. Judging from the scene Phantom saw, the main body of the strange thing controlling the parasitism should be inside here."

Noticing the eager expression on Iwanaga Kotoko’s face that clearly said, Come on, ask me. Ask me., Yuuki Asuna shook her head helplessly, but still played along and asked,

"Is that so? But why would that strange thing let us discover where it is?"

"Hehehe, you don’t understand, do you? How silly..."

"Bonk."

"Ugh..."

Asagiri casually flicked Iwanaga Kotoko on the head and said with a smile,

"If you do not explain it, how are we supposed to understand? Hurry up."

"Tch... so my boyfriend really does have an S streak..."

Iwanaga Kotoko first muttered that in a low voice, then immediately regained her serious expression. She raised her fair index finger and, for some reason, waved it slightly while speaking, perhaps because she thought it looked cool.

"Have you heard of ghost walls? You keep circling around in one place and can’t get out, and after a long time, you suddenly realize you are still standing where you started. This situation is similar. When someone falls into the illusion, their mind separates from their body. Mentally, they think they are moving, but their body remains where it is. But because Phantom kept her awareness in the illusion and used her ability to avoid the attention of that strange thing, her mind never separated from her body. That thing never expected a situation like this to happen, which is why we were able to discover where its main body is."

"I see."

Yuuki Asuna nodded, then reached out and gently stroked Iwanaga Kotoko’s head with a soft smile.

"Good thing you’re here."

"Hehe, of course, I am..."

Halfway through speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly realized what had just happened. She slapped Yuuki Asuna’s hand away and protested angrily,

"I’m not a child. Why are you talking to me like you’re coaxing one? Don’t do that."

Yuuki Asuna just smiled.

"Mhm, alright, alright."

Kato Megumi, meanwhile, turned to Asagiri and asked,

"Leader, what next... should we attack?"

"No, let’s go back first."

Asagiri glanced at the fire escape door on the twenty fourth floor and answered calmly,

"Even if the four of us could probably eliminate that strange origin by ourselves, it would definitely consume a great deal of physical and mental strength. I might even need to use [Supreme Magic Bullet]. Do not forget, there are still over a hundred Players alive in this Dungeon besides us. Eliminating the thing controlling the parasitism by ourselves would indeed let us monopolize the system’s clear rank bonus, but it would also leave us in a weakened state. It is better to team up with the stronger Player teams. That way, we reduce our own expenditure while making them spend theirs, and keep the balance of strength relatively even."

"What if someone deliberately causes trouble? Like hidden parasitic Players?"

Hearing Kato Megumi’s concern, Asagiri smiled and waved it off.

"How could it be that complicated? When we were heading to the equipment room, all the pieces it could move freely had already been sent out to stop us. Unless it could predict that we would discover the location of its main body, then predict that we would gather other strong Player teams to cooperate with us, and then decide to use its own main body as bait to set a trap that it could not even be sure would work, there are simply too many uncertain factors involved. And honestly..."

He paused, then said in a quiet voice,

"I do not think it is that intelligent."

...

After the four person team returned to Room 7012 on the seventh floor, they arrived just in time for the dangerous period, when the corridor carpet gradually began turning red once more.

This time, however, they had already deciphered most of the relevant information regarding the strange thing controlling the parasitic phenomenon. Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi were no longer as tense and uneasy as they had been when they first entered the Dungeon.

"Assuming the first riddle has already been solved..."

Now that they understood the nature of the parasitic phenomenon, there was no longer any need for the four person team to keep quiet. With Asagiri present, and Alice also there as a countermeasure, the opponent could not do much to the four of them anyway.

Iwanaga Kotoko rested her delicate chin on one hand and mused thoughtfully,

"Only seven hours have passed so far. Compared to the seventy two hour limit, that is not even one tenth of the way through. And yet we have already mostly deciphered the meaning of the public hint and the special hints. After eliminating the strange thing controlling the parasitism, will the Dungeon’s hidden objective be fulfilled so we can leave early, like the last time we came here, or... will an entirely new danger appear afterward?"

"We will find out when the time comes."

Asagiri lounged on the sofa, completely ignoring Yuuki Asuna’s slightly embarrassed expression, and lazily twirled a strand of her soft flaxen hair around his fingers.

"Let’s kill that thing first. We can worry about supplies after that."

...

This dangerous period lasted a long time. It was only after a full three hours that the corridor carpet returned to its normal color. And just like the previous two times, all the surviving Players gathered again in the buffet restaurant on the third floor.

The man in the white suit counted the numbers roughly. Asagiri’s team had killed twenty four parasitic Players, leaving one hundred and twelve normal Players alive. And just like the previous round, there appeared to have been no casualties.

"Did anyone fall into a confused state?"

At the white suited man’s question, the Players present exchanged glances, but not a single one of them spoke.

"Hm?"

The white suited man frowned slightly, clearly finding it strange.

He had already considered the possibility that some Player had fallen into confusion and that they or their teammates had chosen not to report it. But for everyone to stay silent? That was impossible.

"Not a single one?"

"Is that thing’s strength not enough anymore?"

In the middle of the silence, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly spoke.

"That thing’s power is not endless either. The twenty four it transformed this time... no, counting the one that was killed during the last meeting, that makes twenty five parasitic Players eliminated in total. Even if those were just puppets formed by splitting off from its main body, the loss of parasitic Players should still affect the main body. This dangerous period lasted a full three hours. Perhaps it was using that time to recover..."

At that point, Iwanaga Kotoko sighed with slight regret.

"Honestly, I only realized it now. I ended up giving that thing time to breathe and recover. If I had figured it out sooner, we could have attacked directly. What a pity. I was still being too cautious."

"Attack..."

The female Player wearing the fox demon mask beside the white suited man hesitated before speaking.

"Attack where?"

"We’ve already found the location of its main body."

Asagiri lightly tapped the table with his fingers. Facing the shocked gazes of the Players around him, he smiled in a calm, easy manner.

"Next, we eliminate it. Who is willing to come with us?"

The moment he said that, the man in the white suit raised his hand without hesitation.

"My teammates and I are willing to participate."

Any Player who had survived to this stage understood one thing very well. Defeating a boss, even just assisting in defeating a Dungeon boss, would definitely produce a very considerable clear rank bonus. So what if there were risks? No one wanted to miss an opportunity like that.

"We want to go too!"

"And us!"

"Count us in as well!"

The room instantly grew noisy as Players began volunteering one after another. Asagiri simply raised his right hand and pressed it down.

With that single motion, the entire room immediately fell silent again.

From the perspective of the other Players, this black clothed Player and his teammates were terrifying existences who had wiped out more than twenty parasitic Players without suffering a single loss.

"Not everyone can go."

Asagiri slowly swept his gaze across the Players present.

"Only those with real strength are qualified to participate in our operation."

.....

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