A crossover anime/manga story, set in everyday Tokyo, but within a loop of a game.

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"I'm a warlock-type class, primarily using bizarre attack abilities. I can also provide support by controlling enemies and disrupting their minds. The one in the crimson cloak is a swordsman, and the one with the black ponytail is an assassin/archer. As for our captain..."

At this point, Kotoko Iwanaga paused for a few seconds, seemingly thinking of a suitable description, before looking at the woman in the fox demon mask.

"He is a warrior + fighter + mage + warlock + summoner +..."

"Don't add anything yet, are you setting up an equation here?"

Asagiri ruffled Iwanaga Kotoko's hair, interrupting her, and then looked at the man in the white suit and smiled.

"Just think of me as an all-around combat player."

"All-around combat ability..."

The man in the white suit muttered the word, recalling Asagiri's performance in the battle just now.

Holy and fire magic, sharp spears with ice and physical attributes, bizarre melee weapons imbued with a cursed aura, the ability to instantly switch positions with summoned creatures and continuously change summons—its mobility can be described as impeccable, and most importantly…

A dark beam of light, powerful enough to instantly destroy dozens of parasitic players and the faces of everyone in the banquet hall.

The man in the white suit nodded in deep agreement, a complex look in his eyes as he looked at Asagiri.

"Indeed, this is the first time I've encountered an all-around player like you. I originally thought our team was the pinnacle of player teams at this stage, and that only that legendary guy was stronger than us..."

"The legendary guy?"

Upon hearing this, Asagiri became interested. Since this was a time to rest and adjust, it would be a good opportunity to exchange information.

"Huh? Haven't you heard other players say that?"

The man in the white suit smiled, sat down cross-legged on the ground, and then slowly began to speak.

"In the middle of last month in the real world, a super-large instance was opened. The instance location was a world very similar to the real world, but inhabited by undead creatures called demi-humans. In that super-large instance, the system directly provided a hidden main quest prepared for high-end players, which was to attack an impregnable research base and obtain the experimental data inside. Only if one player obtained the experimental data could the remaining surviving players clear the instance; otherwise, the entire team would be wiped out sooner or later. And at the crucial moment..."

"Why don't you stop for a moment?"

Asagiri raised her hand to interrupt the man in the white suit. The latter noticed that the four members of the opposing team had strange looks in their eyes, as if they had heard a very funny joke and were trying hard to suppress their laughter. He frowned slightly and asked in confusion.

"I haven't finished yet. In that instance, a..."

"A cute blue-haired girl wearing a cat-ear hat appeared, gathered all the players who had arrived at the dungeon location, and then planned to attack the experimental base. The girl belongs to a mysterious and powerful player team. I've summarized it for you, so you don't need to go through the backstory here."

"Previous Recap..."

The man in the white suit was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening and, like his three teammates, showed a look of shock.

"Could it be that the rumored player squad... is you guys?"

"Hey, no need for further explanation."

Although Asagiri waved her hand, seemingly very modest, her words left the man in the white suit speechless.

"We're just the strongest player team at this stage, nothing more than the strongest, that's to be expected."

"Forehead……"

The man in the white suit and his teammate exchanged a glance, both having the same idea in mind.

This player in black is indeed strong, and his mental fortitude is so high that he seems completely unafraid, but something about him just feels...

Is your personality a bit unreliable?

So, what are we waiting for now?

Upon hearing the question from the man in the white suit, Kotoko Iwanaga smiled and replied.

"Don't you understand? The 24th floor is where that thing's power is strongest, but we've searched everywhere and still haven't found any trace of it. I already had a suspicion, and after the battle just now, I've confirmed that the so-called dangerous period is actually the time when that strange entity 'awakens.' Only during this period can it create its own split bodies to physically 'parasitize' others. And the true face of that strange entity..."

At this point, Kotoko Iwanaga paused slightly before slowly beginning to speak.

"It is a strange phenomenon formed by the fusion of all the earthbound spirits in this hotel, the resentment of all the dead, and all the bizarre phenomena."

"I see……"

Before the man in the white suit and his three teammates could even begin to express their feelings, Asagiri suddenly added a sentence that startled them.

"That strange being's power is indeed very strong, but it is so powerful that it can even corrode the mental strength of an enhanced player. Moreover, it is in its own territory, yet it was still forced to retreat to the 24th floor as its last domain. This is enough to prove that the being that controls the high-temperature phenomenon is much stronger than it."

31

Chapter 31 The Thousand-Faced Stone Statue.

"So now... how do we awaken that strange being?"

"Isn't it simple?"

Asagiri replied with a smile, then casually waved her hand.

"Persona, Mita".

Upon seeing the beautiful girl with blue twin ponytails, a sweet and lovely face, and wearing a red sweater and blue skirt, the man in the white suit couldn't help but pause for a moment, sizing up Crazy Mita standing there, and couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Is this the legendary, mysterious blue-haired girl? Where are her hat and gloves?"

Before the man in the white suit could finish speaking, Crazy Mita suddenly turned his head, staring at him with a sharp, murderous gaze, his voice carrying a hint of coldness.

"You guy, do you want to die?"

Crazy Mita's personality is the kind that's like "my cyber-crazy killer girlfriend." She only restrains her temper and tries to speak calmly when facing Asagiri, as well as his girlfriends Yuuki Asuna, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Kato Megumi. She won't be polite to the white-suited man, a stranger, especially since he mistook her for Hat Mita. In Crazy Mita's eyes, this is the greatest insult to her.

"Don't talk nonsense."

Asagiri stared seriously at the bewildered man in the white suit and slowly began to speak.

"I've lived my whole life on thin ice, proceeding cautiously and carefully. Don't suddenly create a chaotic scene for me."

After saying this, Asagiri looked at Crazy Mita and smiled reassuringly.

"Okay, don't be angry, let's begin."

"Hmph, fine."

Crazy Mita glared at the male player in the white suit again, then took out a grenade from her pocket, pulled the pin, and threw it. While waiting for the explosion, she also took out a washed apple, took a bite, and waited excitedly for the explosion.

"boom!!!"

Seeing the flames of the explosion and hearing the intoxicating sound, Mad Metta's eyes lit up with joy, and the corners of his lips involuntarily turned up as he murmured.

"As expected, destroying things... is so much fun!"

Crazy Mita quickly finished the apple in a few bites, then swiftly took out more grenades from her inventory, repeatedly pulling out the pins and throwing them. During this process, her smile grew brighter and brighter, but the happier she smiled, the more a chill ran through the hearts of the man in the white suit and the others.

Are there any normal people in that opposing player squad?

Leaving aside Asagiri and Kotoko Iwanaga, the people in white suits and others had already noticed during the battle that these two did not waver at all in the face of the wailing of those faces. Their mental resistance was so high that it was simply not a normal human level.

The swordsman in the crimson cloak and the girl carrying the black longbow, though seemingly affected, quickly returned to normal after the battle. Unlike the ordinary players who suffered mental breakdowns or showed fear, they seemed to find the situation commonplace and nothing to be afraid of.

And then there's that blue-haired, twin-tailed girl who's clearly mentally unstable...

These guys are practically superhuman.

Just then, a giant mouth suddenly appeared on the wall of the banquet hall, emitting a sharp, piercing roar filled with anger and resentment.

"Stop blowing it up! Stop blowing it up..."

"Don't blow it up?"

Asagiri reacted extremely quickly. Before the giant mouth could finish roaring, he had already snatched the grenade from Crazy Mita's hand, pulled out the pin, and threw the grenade directly into the giant mouth with a pitching motion comparable to that of a Major League Baseball player.

"Go eat a grenade."

"boom!!!"

Just watching the flash of the grenade exploding and blasting the soft flesh inside the giant mouth into a blur made the man in the white suit and the others feel a bit of pain.

“Your family is a Buddha…”

"Boiled until it's like a big tongue?"

Hearing the indistinct words from that enormous mouth, Asagiri chuckled and interrupted.

"If you can't explain yourself clearly, then don't. We have plenty of grenades here. We can completely bomb this floor. Just thinking about it is awesome."

"You...you...unforgivable!!!"

The flesh and blood inside the giant maw rapidly regenerated, and the ground of the entire building began to shake at that moment.

The smile in Asagiri's eyes vanished. She took out her usual chain dart from her inventory, and a black gun-shaped summoner appeared in her left hand. She gave a soft reminder.

"coming soon."

Amidst the earthquake-like shaking, the once magnificent banquet hall finally revealed its true appearance.

The walls are paved with bluish-gray stone bricks, and the surface is densely carved with human face patterns. Each face has a different appearance, but what they have in common is the distorted expression of despair that makes people feel psychologically uncomfortable. Each face has its mouth wide open, and although it does not make any sound, it makes the person watching feel that they are crying out for help.

The wool carpet, originally embroidered with gold thread, had now turned a blood-red color. The red was so vivid that it resembled a rolling, viscous sea of ​​blood, emitting a strange, fishy smell.

In the center of the banquet hall, a nearly 15-meter-tall stone statue, its head almost touching the ceiling chandelier, gradually rose. The statue was roughly human-shaped, but its surface, like the surrounding walls, was covered with countless despairing and distorted human faces. The areas where the faces should have been were smooth. Just looking at the statue's appearance gave off a strange and eerie feeling.

Kotoko Iwanaga's deep purple eyes showed no fear whatsoever. Faced with this sudden change, she simply glanced around and immediately noticed a detail.

"Leader, the parts of the wall with hundreds of faces are covered in black."

Upon hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's words, everyone present looked around and found that, as expected, some parts of the wall that should have been human faces were now covered with a layer of dark light, and the stone figures around them had expressions of fear and horror on their faces, as if they were afraid that the dark light would spread to their own faces.

But compared to the wall covered with thousands of faces, the missing hundreds of faces are just a tiny fraction.

"Do you realize it? My power far surpasses yours."

The tall stone statue took a step forward, and the mouths of the human faces on its body opened, emitting overlapping sounds.

"Even with the utmost effort, the power of mere humans can only eliminate a negligible, insignificant fraction of me..."

"I just don't understand, what are you pretending for?"

Facing the imposing, towering stone statue, Asagiri showed no fear, only speaking calmly.

"You've used up all the parasitic player puppets you have. The puppets represented by the remaining faces on the wall were just ordinary people in life, right? In the end, you have no more trump cards left. If you hadn't heard me say that you could no longer use that ability, you wouldn't have dared to jump out. The way you're still being stubborn even when you're about to die is truly disgusting."

When the Thousand-Faced Stone Statue realized that its pretense had been exposed by Asagiri, it remained silent for a few seconds. Then, the faces on its body suddenly opened their eyes at the same time, and their expressions changed from despair to twisted fanaticism.

"You saw right through me, but..."

As the Thousand-Faced Stone Statue was mentioned, the faces on the surrounding walls suddenly began to peel off, falling to the ground and forming hollow-eyed, stiff-faced human figures.

"Even if I use numbers, I can slowly wear you down."

Looking at the densely packed parasitic puppets around her, Asuna Yuuki gripped the shimmering light in her hand, her eyes showing vigilance, and said softly.

"What should I do?"

Asuna Yuuki knew that Asagiri still had the ability to use "Supreme Magic Bullet" again, but she also knew very well that it was a method that should only be used as a last resort.

It has only been twelve hours since the player entered the dungeon, and there is still a long time before the seventy-two-hour time limit. If the rules of this dungeon are not like the previous Floating Corpse Demon dungeon, where you can choose to clear the dungeon early after killing the hidden BOSS, then Chaowu, who has exhausted her mental energy by using the Supreme Magic Bullet twice in a row, will completely lose her ability to fight. She will need at least eight to ten hours of rest to barely recover.

Neither Hoddle Franklin's "sacrifice" nor the "reversal" of the human demon could compensate for Asagiri's loss of physical and mental strength. If Asagiri loses her fighting ability and encounters any further danger, the situation will become serious.

"That stone statue is the true form of the strange entity."

Kotoko Iwanaga narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the thousand-faced stone statue standing at the back, its human face revealing a sinister grin, and slowly spoke.

"Break forward, get close to that guy, and attack together. That's the only way."

"Then come on."

Asagiri raised the black gun-shaped summoner in her hand and aimed it at her head, causing the hem of her black hunter trench coat to move automatically without any wind.

"Persona, Human Asura".

"Conserve your energy, we'll clear the way for you!"

The white suit on the man in the white suit began to transform, turning into a layer of light bone armor. His fighter teammate also put on gauntlets. The perception-type male player's eyes gleamed as he scanned the parasite blocking his way, then pointed a finger at it.

"The guys there are the weakest!"

"Up!"

A chilling bone spur grew from the right palm of the man in the white suit. He and his fighter teammates, one on each side, charged into the dense array of parasites alongside Asagi.

"Wind Protection."

Asuna Yuuki's eyes shone with determination as she cast a spell of wind protection on herself and the sword in her hand. Her crimson cloak flashed as she charged head-on into the parasites' formation, sword in hand.

The real boss battle has begun.