Chapter 192: Malevolent Spirit Ambush
"It works like that too?"
Yuuki Asuna could not help showing a complicated expression when she saw what Asagiri had done.
"So you kept him around just to use him as a malevolent spirit radar?"
"Of course."
There was a smile in Asagiri's voice as he replied.
"The malevolent spirits in this mental hospital don't seem to feel pain, and their minds are as twisted as the mental patients themselves, so interrogation and negotiation are both useless. Even so, there are still things they fear."
Hearing that, Kato Megumi could not help asking curiously,
"What?"
Asagiri gave an answer that was both unexpected and completely reasonable.
"Mental patients who are even stronger than they are."
"Eh?"
Yuuki Asuna froze for a moment, then quickly reacted, a look of realization appearing on her face.
"I get it. Even if we're stronger than they are, in their eyes we'll die here sooner or later, so they don't care about being killed once or twice by us, since they believe they can't be completely erased. But the mental patients trapped in this area are different. If they provoke a grotesque existence stronger than themselves, it means suffering endless torture with no escape."
"So that's how it is..."
Iwanaga Kotoko looked thoughtful as she recalled their earlier encounters.
"That explains why no other mental patients showed up when Chris Walker was fighting us, even though the commotion was huge. He's the strongest existence on that floor. He can enter that chef's territory whenever he wants, and no one dares to steal his prey. In other words, that entire floor is Chris Walker's territory."
After she finished speaking, Kato Megumi glanced at Eddie Gluskin, who was still being held by Human Asura.
"Then judging from his reaction, are there malevolent spirits on the floors above that are stronger than him, and by quite a lot?"
"That should be the case."
Asagiri nodded, then walked over to Eddie Gluskin. He reached out, patted his cheek lightly, and said with a smile,
"If you don't answer honestly, I'll take you up with me. The things upstairs won't care whether you were forced. They'll definitely assume you led the way. By then... ah, just imagining your future is enough to make my heart ache."
"You..."
The moment Eddie Gluskin heard that threat hidden beneath the casual tone, his expression changed instantly. Even his body began trembling uncontrollably. It was obvious he felt genuine fear.
"What's on the two floors above? Speak."
Eddie Gluskin had no choice but to answer honestly.
"I don't know what's on Floor B1... but Floor B2 is the territory of the Doctor and the Twins..."
"What are their abilities?"
"I don't know... but the three of them are terrifying. Even Chris Walker doesn't provoke them easily... and all the toys have already been taken by those three."
Hearing Eddie Gluskin's answer, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko all showed slight changes in expression. They already had a vague guess about what the so-called toys referred to, and Asagiri's follow-up question, along with Eddie's answer, confirmed it.
"By toys... you mean the orderlies in this hospital?"
"Yes."
"I see."
Asagiri nodded without much reaction, and then Human Asura carried Eddie Gluskin toward the elevator.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing!? I already answered everything!"
"Of course. I'm a man of my word."
Hearing that, Eddie Gluskin had barely begun to relax when Asagiri casually added,
"But I only said I wouldn't take you up. I never said I wouldn't send you down."
Before Eddie Gluskin could respond, Human Asura flung him through the side gap of the crude elevator shaft.
"No! Nooo...!"
Eddie Gluskin let out a miserable scream as he fell, but the moment his body dropped to the height corresponding to the fourth underground floor, both his voice and his figure vanished instantly, as if the floor itself had swallowed him whole.
Watching that scene, Asagiri only said calmly,
"As expected, the fourth and fifth underground floors are extremely dangerous."
"Leader."
At that moment, Iwanaga Kotoko walked up beside Asagiri, glanced up into the shaft, and frowned deeply.
"The grotesque aura on the floor above suddenly became much denser. It looks like an unusually powerful existence is waiting to ambush us where the elevator will stop."
"That's inevitable after making this much noise."
Yuuki Asuna said that first, then asked,
"What do we do now? With our team's strength, plus Phantom's ability, we should be able to seize the initiative and force our way through whatever is waiting above. Or... should we look for another route?"
The four of them were all elite Players who had cleared multiple Dungeons. Some things no longer needed to be discussed at length. They understood them almost instinctively, including the decision now in front of them.
The noise from the elevator had clearly attracted not only Eddie Gluskin on this floor, but also the Twins and the Doctor on Floor B2. Although the four of them were probably capable of breaking through the ambush, this kind of high-difficulty route was obviously not designed for ordinary Players.
Which meant the normal Dungeon route was likely something else.
A normal Player would reach this point, activate the elevator, draw the attention of the mental patients on the floor above, then flee under pursuit from Eddie Gluskin or Chris Walker, eventually finding another path to Floor B2. That path would normally be guarded, but the guards would have already moved to intercept the elevator.
It was a classic horror game setup.
"Speedrun, or play it safe..."
Asagiri did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Iwanaga Kotoko in turn.
"What do you all think?"
"I agree with a speedrun breakthrough."
Iwanaga Kotoko was the first to answer. After all, like Asagiri, she belonged to the type of person who had no concept of fear.
"We've already spent enough time resting and adjusting our condition. If we waste more time looking for another route, our final clear rating will definitely suffer."
"I agree with forcing our way through too."
Yuuki Asuna tightened her grip on the rapier in her hand, her eyes filled with firm resolve.
"The reason I entered this Dungeon again was to completely say goodbye to my old timid self. Hesitating and sneaking around isn't my style. Moving forward is the path I chose."
"Mm..."
Seeing all three of them looking at her now, Kato Megumi let out a small sigh.
"One of you is showing off, one is calmly analyzing, and one is charging ahead with pure conviction. You've already covered all the types... Still, I also agree with a frontal breakthrough. I'm honestly too lazy to walk farther."
"Good heavens. We even have the lazy type in the team. Our future really is bright."
Asagiri laughed, then looked at the makeshift elevator and spoke in a calm tone.
"Then let's flatten them."
...
A few minutes later, in front of the makeshift elevator entrance on Floor B2.
Creak. Creak. Creak.
Hearing the harsh grinding noise of the elevator approaching again, the two tall, burly mental patients standing guard there exchanged glances. They looked deeply wrong somehow, and each carried a weapon, one a machete, the other a crude spiked club.
Then, in perfect sync, they scratched their heads.
"Wait at the entrance?"
"No. The priest warned us not to get too close."
"Then wait for them to come up?"
"Wait."
After that absurdly short exchange, the twin brothers said nothing more. They simply stood there in silence, waiting for the enemy while the horrible noise of the approaching elevator echoed through the floor.
Whoosh.
A black figure suddenly flashed out from the elevator entrance.
Before the twins could even see what it was, the figure had already reached them like a ghost.
"Persona, Meta."
Prototype Mita appeared instantly.
Its grotesque puppet face was utterly expressionless as it lunged forward, bit into the elder twin's neck, then extended its own neck several meters like a grotesque spring. It hoisted the man's body all the way up near the ceiling before smashing him straight back into the ground.
"Hmm?"
Only then did the younger twin react.
His tall, heavy body shot forward like a beast, and the spiked club in his hand swung viciously toward Asagiri's head.
Bang.
But before the club could land, Asagiri had already raised both hands and caught the younger twin by the wrist.
At the same time, the elder twin, who had just gotten up and was about to attack Prototype Mita, saw the puppet vanish. In its place stood a tall humanoid black shadow.
"Undead Touch."
Iwanaga Kotoko, petite in her Western dress, had been thrown directly up from inside the elevator shaft. She landed in an elegant posture that looked completely out of place in battle, then raised her right hand toward the elder twin and activated her skill from a distance.
In the next instant, dozens of pale arms burst out from the floor and wrapped around the elder twin's legs like pythons.
By then, Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi had also reached Floor B2.
One of them rushed to Asagiri's side and drove her sword straight through the younger twin's head.
The other swung a battle axe down with brutal force, splitting open the elder twin's skull.
Looking at the scene before them, it was honestly hard to tell which side was supposed to be the evil spirits.
The once terrifying twin brothers now looked like the poor, helpless victims in a horror movie.
.....
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