bookbashuk Page 203
Page 203
Chapter 66 Memory Stealing.
Correspondingly, Asagiri, Kotoko Iwanaga, and the others did not intend to remain in this stalemate. After all, if the Metropolitan Police Department's mobile unit arrived here, it would be a troublesome matter for them. Moreover, according to the system's usual pattern, although this was not Asagiri and the others' instance, if they could successfully kill the otherworld player, they should be able to obtain additional rewards besides the other party's phone.
and so……
"Leader, use that move to finish this quickly!"
Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's words, Asagiri distanced herself from the Black Watch Commander and spoke softly.
"Right on my mind."
Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, and Ai Hayasaka all looked surprised after hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's words.
What does "using that move" mean?
They surveyed the platform, now a scene of utter devastation from the clash of Asagiri's and the Blackwatch Commander's terrifying powers, and wondered if...
Utsunomiya Asagiri, have you not yet used your full strength?
"Violet, Phantom, cover me!"
As Kotoko Iwanaga finished speaking, Megumi Kato, wielding the Nightingale Bow, and Asuna Yuuki, clutching the shimmering light, stepped in front of her. Kaguya Shinomiya, though unaware of Kotoko's intentions, had a glint in her red eyes. The blade "God Spear" in her hand transformed into a longbow, and she then fired an arrow formed from unknown energy towards the Blackwatch players with a standard archery technique.
"The Hundred-Armed Giant's Bow and Arrow!"
The energy arrows were not aimed at any particular enemy, but at the ground in front of them.
Faced with the suddenly expanding, dangerously aura-filled orb of light, the Blackwatch members had only one option: to dodge backward. The two tank-type professional players at the forefront, however, had no time to dodge and were swallowed by the light, melting away as quickly as snow under the blazing sun.
When the exploding orb dissipated, what the Blackwatch players, who were preparing to launch their attack, saw was Kotoko Iwanaga, who had completed her spellcasting animation and was slowly raising her cane towards them.
"Come forth, Pale Dominator!"
As Kotoko Iwanaga finished speaking, more than a dozen pale, ghostly hands with sharp, black nails instantly appeared on the ground and reached out to grab the Black Watch members.
"He actually had such a hidden ability..."
Seeing that his squad was at a disadvantage, the Blackwatch commander's expression changed. Just as he was about to rush over to help, he was sent flying by Shura's palm.
"Haven't you realized your situation yet?"
Asagiri looked at the Black Watch Commander, who was barely managing to steady himself and clenching his teeth, and without saying a word of nonsense, he slowly spoke.
"Human Asura Mode".
As Asagiri finished speaking, the body of Shura, who was standing next to him, suddenly began to disintegrate, transforming into eerie dark red patterns, just like when he cast "Supreme Demon Bullet." The only difference was that this time, the dark red patterns did not surround his body but were directly attached to his clothes.
The long black trench coat, gloves, boots, and even the dark gray mask were covered with eerie patterns that seemed to flow slowly like lava.
At that very moment, everyone present—not only the enemies of Blackwatch, but also Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, Kotoko Iwanaga, Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, and Ai Hayasaka—felt an indescribable fear, as if some extremely terrifying being had awakened completely at that moment.
"This is……"
Before the Blackwatch commander could even speak, Asagiri appeared in front of him instantly. Facing Asagiri's heavy punch, he could only barely raise his arms to try to block it, with only one thought in his mind.
"So fast!"
"boom!!!"
With a loud bang, the Black Watch Commander's body from the chest down sank directly into the hard platform floor. Seeing this, Kaguya Shinomiya suddenly remembered what Asuna Yuuki had told her before.
"You'll behave when you get beaten to a pulp by a Shura."
It wasn't until she saw it with her own eyes that Kaguya Shinomiya finally realized that Asuna Yuuki wasn't using exaggerated rhetoric at the time, but that Asagiri Utsunomiya really possessed such terrifying power.
"Cough cough cough..."
Due to the overwhelming force of the impact, the Blackwatch Commander's internal organs were damaged, and blood spilled from the corners of his mouth and eye sockets. His two arms, which had collided head-on with Asagiri's fist, were twisted into a pretzel shape and hung limply at his sides.
At this moment, his prized close-quarters combat skills and fighting experience had become utterly meaningless.
Faced with an absolute disparity in strength, there are no longer any so-called correct options; there is no way to dodge, and even if one manages to withstand the attack, one will be severely injured.
It has ended.
"Retreat! Retreat!!!"
Upon hearing the commander's order, the few Blackwatch players who had barely survived the Pale Ghost Hand's attack did not hesitate at all. Unlike the scenes in movies where they cried and screamed, unwilling to leave, they quickly fled into the distance.
"Trying to run away...?"
"Violet, don't chase after them."
Just as Asuna Yuuki was about to give chase, Megumi Kato pressed down on her shoulder and said softly.
"We're not as fast as you, which could easily lead to us falling behind. Be careful, don't chase us."
Seeing the few Blackwatch players who were about to escape from her sight, Asuna Yuuki looked unwilling, but she still listened to Megumi Kato's advice and put the Flashing Light back into its sheath.
Meanwhile, Asagiri had already deactivated its "Human Asura Mode".
In this state, he indeed possesses extremely terrifying power. He didn't even summon any other Personas just now; he was able to instantly kill the Blackwatch Commander who had been fighting him, simply by relying on numerical values. However, the consumption of this ability is also extremely terrifying.
With his current stamina, he can only maintain it for a maximum of fifteen seconds, which is much shorter than the five-minute duration of Blood Burst. However, the advantage of Human Asura Mode is that he can summon other personas while under the Human Asura buff, and he can turn it on and off at any time without any negative effects such as weakness. Moreover, the enhancement of his physical attributes is much greater than that of Blood Burst.
"Are you going to die?"
After ending the Human Asura Mode, Asagiri grabbed the Black Watch Commander by the hair and lifted him up from the ground. Looking at the commander's pupils, which were beginning to dilate, she turned to Kotoko Iwanaga and whispered.
"Hurry up."
"clear."
Under the questioning gazes of Kaguya Shinomiya, Chika Fujiwara, and Ai Hayasaka, Kotoko Iwanaga walked straight up to the Black Watch Commander, staring directly into his increasingly unfocused and dim eyes. Three seconds later, a huge pale ghost hand suddenly appeared beside him, its sharp, black nails piercing into the commander's skull. Then, its index finger and thumb pulled out a semi-transparent, pale purple substance.
"Let's take a look now..."
Kotoko Iwanaga's dark purple eyes gleamed with an eerie light as she smiled.
"There must be something of value in your memory."
……
Meanwhile, in a small alley in Tokyo.
"Ding ding ding~"
Upon hearing the system notification sound from his phone, a young man who was college students, fairly handsome, and appeared somewhat honest took out his phone and saw a new notification message pop up in the app with the eye icon.
Due to the actions of certain players during this instance, the player "Shadow" in this world has learned important information about this instance.
[Special Note: Please try to avoid conflict with "Shadow". From your perspective, you may be able to negotiate peacefully with "Shadow".]
"Try to avoid conflict..."
The young man looked at the prompt given by the eye icon app and muttered to himself.
"This is the first time we've received such a notification. Does that mean that Mr. 'Shadow' is stronger than us...? The actions of some players are probably those Blackwatch guys. Peaceful negotiation... perhaps we can try."
……
Later that day, at one of Ashikaga Miwa's dojos.
"Is the evacuation point the private Shuchiin Academy...? This system really has a twisted sense of humor..."
Through searching the memories of the Blackwatch commander, Kotoko Iwanaga obtained a lot of important information, such as the fact that the otherworldly player's dungeon lasted for 48 hours.
The main objective is simple: to eliminate some of the strange things in this world. These strange things are not the mountain gods or similar entities that Asagiri had previously encountered, but rather dangerous monsters like the Minotaur and the Corpse-Piecing Demon, which are mindless and only know how to attack.
You've cleared the dungeon if you eliminate the monsters before the time limit expires and then reach the extraction point.
Now, with only five hours left before the dungeon's time limit expires, the Black Watch team, consisting of a dozen or so people, has their extraction point set by the system at the private Shuchiin Academy.
Of course, this is not the most important information.
The most important piece of information is that, through a portion of the Blackwatch commander's memories, Asagiri and the others finally learned about the general appearance of that world.
"Simply put, it is a world filled with powerful and eerie phenomena, and forever shrouded in darkness."
Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri, Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and the three members of Kaguya Shinomiya's team in front of her, and slowly began to speak.
"The humans who survived in that world can be roughly divided into three categories. The first category is ordinary people who hide and hope not to be discovered by the supernatural, living one day at a time. The second category is the fanatics we encountered last time, who went insane due to fear and chose to place their hopes on so-called 'gods'. And there are not only the 'gods' we encountered last time, but all kinds of 'gods'."
"The third type is Blackwatch. In a world that was originally functioning normally, as a secret organization, they began to conduct various experiments after the world went out of control due to strange phenomena. These experiments included creating zombie viruses and strange phenomena at the Giant Mountain Mental Hospital, in an attempt to obtain the power to fight against the strange phenomena in that world. In their view, the goal of saving all of humanity in that world is above all else. They will spare no effort, even if it means destroying our world and killing everyone in it, to obtain 'power'."
67
Chapter 67 Three New Code Names.
After listening to Kotoko Iwanaga's introduction, Kaguya Shinomiya smoothed her long, black hair and said in a calm tone.
"No matter what their world is like, we have no obligation to save people from another world. Blackwatch is our enemy."
Upon hearing this, Asagiri laughed and teased.
"Hmm? It's already 'we' now, instead of 'we and you'?"
Hearing Asagiri's teasing, Kaguya Shinomiya turned her face away, raised her hand to touch her cheek, and then spoke in a completely emotionless tone.
"At this point, although we are no longer a small team, we have become a community of shared interests, so I personally think it is not an exaggeration to use 'we' to describe the relationship between us."
"Alright, let's discuss everyday topics like playing house later."
Asagiri didn't intend to dwell on this issue too much and immediately changed the subject back to a serious tone.
"The most important question now is whether or not we should accept the special mission issued by the system?"
Just before leaving the train station with Kayaba Akihiko, Asagiri received a special mission from the eye-shaped app. The mission was very simple.
[Enable location tracking for Kayaba Akihiko? Once enabled, all players participating in this instance will be able to track Kayaba Akihiko's real-time location via the app. If Kayaba Akihiko survives until the instance's time limit expires, a special reward will be awarded: theoretical data related to the brain-computer interface "NERvGear".]
[Theoretical materials related to brain-computer interfaces (NERvGear): The experimental data is obscure and difficult to understand. However, if someone with relevant theoretical knowledge and research skills reads it, they will surely achieve a major breakthrough in scientific research.]
[Countdown to acceptance: 5 minutes remaining]
The special mission issued by the system is actually quite simple: if Asagiri and his group can protect Kayaba Akihiko's life until the end of the current instance's time limit, which is five hours later, while Kayaba Akihiko's real-time location is constantly being exposed, then they can obtain the experimental data of the brain-computer interface "NERvGear".
Asuna Yuuki's father, Shozo Yuuki, once said that Akihiko Kayaba's research was only in its initial stages and was still a long way from successful development. Research is unpredictable; it may take a day or two to get close, but it may also take a lifetime to achieve a breakthrough.
If we can obtain the relevant theoretical data on the brain-computer interface "NERvGear", given Kayaba Akihiko's qualifications in scientific research, he will definitely be able to develop the brain-computer interface "NERvGear" as soon as possible and provide valuable assistance to Asagiri and others.
"A protection-type mission..."
Asuna Yuuki frowned slightly, looking somewhat worried.
"If it's about us fighting against the otherworldly players in this instance and surviving to the end, I think we can definitely succeed. But if it's about protecting Kayaba Akihiko from being killed... as an ordinary person, he's far too vulnerable in front of players with extraordinary powers..."
"Take it."
Just as Asuna Yuuki was speaking, Miwa Ashikaga's voice came from the doorway.
Looking at Asagiri and the others sitting there, Ashikaga Miwa raised her hand to push up her gold-rimmed glasses and said something that surprised both Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi.
“I have an underground shelter in Tokyo, built to the standards of nuclear weapon defense. As long as Kayaba Akihiko hides there, even players with superhuman strength will not be able to easily break in.”
Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato were both a little confused.
Is there a nuclear weapons shelter, privately owned, or located in downtown Tokyo?
How much does it cost?
However, Fujiwara Chika, Shinomiya Kaguya, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Hayasaka Ai showed no surprise whatsoever. After all, in their view, it was perfectly normal for Ashikaga Miwa to own a private nuclear weapons shelter, given her wealth.
"Alright, then accept the mission."
Asagiri seemed to have anticipated this, and as soon as Ashikaga Miwa spoke, she clicked the confirmation button on the eye icon app.
……
Half an hour later, in Shinjuku, Tokyo, inside a seemingly ordinary three-story shop.
"Well, I see."
Ashikaga Miwa hung up the phone, then looked at Asagiri, who was sitting there in her usual clothes, and sighed softly.
"I've already spoken to the Metropolitan Police Department. The entire area within a one-kilometer radius of this location will be cleared under the pretext of an anti-terrorism drill. After this is over, many people will receive the news and know that this incident is related to the 'game'."
"Isn't this great?"
Asagiri handed the black plastic bag containing the phones of those Overwatch players to Ashikaga Miwa with a light laugh.
"Let those who are interested know that you are connected to the 'game' and that you control the most powerful player lineup at this stage. Many players will definitely come to join you. You can also use the phones we obtained this time to have your trustworthy subordinates register as players."
"Yes, although as the public spokesperson, I receive a lot of unnecessary attention, but..."
Ashikaga Miwa adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses and said calmly.