Chapter 191: The "Groom"
"Leader, should I use my ability?"
At Kato Megumi's question, Asagiri looked up into the elevator shaft once more. The elevator car was scraping against the inner wall as it descended, making an ear-piercing racket while moving at a painfully slow pace.
He came to a conclusion immediately.
"No. At this rate, it'll take at least another two minutes to reach this floor. The maximum duration of the buff you cast on others is thirty seconds. That means you'd have to refresh the presence reduction twelve times in a row. That's too much consumption. Save your stamina and mental strength for the fight."
Kato Megumi nodded obediently.
"Okay, I understand."
Her special skill could indeed let the rest of the team share her reduced presence, and she could even recast it without interruption. But there were two critical problems.
First, the mental patients drawn in by the noise would definitely search the area thoroughly. Her skill was not true invisibility. Once the enemy sensed something off and deliberately focused on searching, the effect would weaken significantly.
Second, even if they avoided discovery for the moment, the four of them still had to board the elevator in the end.
And if they boarded while mental patients were nearby, what if the enemy took the chance to do something like sever the elevator cable?
So the safest choice was obvious.
They needed to make sure the area was clear of danger before getting on.
After the entire team had switched into combat mode, a string of hurried footsteps suddenly echoed from the far side of the hall, mixed with panicked screams.
"They're here."
Yuuki Asuna tightened her grip on the rapier in her hand, staring fixedly at the metal door.
A few seconds later, it was kicked open.
Standing in the doorway was a tall man in a white suit. He wore a long-sleeved shirt, a vest, and a tie. His outfit looked perfectly normal, but his eyes were a different matter. The pupils had turned completely white.
In one hand, he was dragging a man by the ankle. Judging from the terrified screaming, that man was most likely another Player.
"Oh? Are you guests here for my wedding banquet?"
The suited man gave a polite bow first. Then he slowly swept his gaze across the four of them.
"This is wonderful... Wait..."
When his eyes landed on Iwanaga Kotoko, who was wearing a masquerade mask and a Western dress, his expression instantly twisted into something ugly.
"Women... Why are there women here!? No women are allowed here except my bride... Huh?"
Halfway through his furious outburst, his gaze shifted to Asagiri.
And then, in an instant, the fury on his face transformed into a sick, feverish obsession. Even the hand gripping the male Player's ankle loosened slightly.
"How... how perfect. What a perfect person... This is the one worthy of becoming my bride!"
"Huh?"
Asagiri let out a soft laugh and asked,
"I'm wearing a mask. You can only see my hands and my eyes. What exactly looks perfect to you?"
To everyone's surprise, the suited man answered him with total sincerity.
"Even if I can only see your eyes, they are beautiful, so beautiful, so moving. Pure black, deep enough to draw in a person's soul. There's a teasing smile hidden within them, yet also a charm so intoxicating it makes the heart tremble. Ah... I have already fallen completely into those eyes. My bri..."
"What are you mumbling about?"
Bang!
Asagiri vanished from his spot and appeared in front of him almost instantly. His fist shot out in a straight punch and smashed into the suited man's face.
The impact snapped the man's neck on the spot. His head flew off like a baseball struck cleanly by a bat.
"So disgusting."
Asagiri looked at the headless body toppling to the ground and spoke with undisguised revulsion.
"Your orientation, your wording, your whole vibe, all of it is disgusting. To provoke such strong emotional turbulence in me, you truly are a god among men."
The moment he finished speaking, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly sensed a surge of strange power and shouted at once,
"Dodge!"
But Asagiri had already retreated before her warning fully left her mouth.
In the next instant, a brand-new head grew out of the broken stump of the suited man's neck, while writhing, tentacle-like things burst out from within his body.
"Oh, my bride..."
The suited man's pale white eyes peered through the gaps between those dancing tentacles, locked firmly on Asagiri. Even though the skin of his face was writhing as if something underneath was about to split it open, the expression there was one of passionate obsession.
"As long as I remove the filth from your body, you will become my most perfect wife!"
"How dare you!"
The moment those words left his mouth, killing intent blazed in Iwanaga Kotoko's bluish-purple eyes. A cloud of Black Particles exploded into being, instantly forming three IBMs that surrounded the enemy.
"Beat him! Beat him half to death! Just don't actually kill him. Torture him hard!"
Faced with the sudden appearance of the three IBMs, the tentacles tearing through the suited man's clothes lashed out at once, wrapping around them.
And then, before their eyes, the IBMs that could shrug off rifle fire began to collapse at alarming speed.
"Persona, Human Asura."
After his tentacles destroyed the three IBMs, the suited man looked at the Human Asura now striding toward him. Its silhouette resembled the IBMs enough to make him pause, but only for a second.
Then he burst into manic laughter, and a thick tentacle erupted from his abdomen, whipping around Human Asura's body.
"No matter what it is, it cannot stop me from obtaining my bride... Huh?"
His words cut off.
Human Asura's body did not collapse.
It did not even react.
Instead, it casually tore the tentacle apart as if it were nothing more than a strip of rotten cloth.
"This... how is that possible..."
"Heh. Little brother."
Asagiri smiled faintly.
"Do you know what curse resistance is?"
"What..."
The suited man's expression changed drastically. He turned as if to flee, but Human Asura's massive hand had already locked around his throat and hauled him up off the ground.
"Waiting for the elevator is boring anyway."
Asagiri walked over slowly, looking into the man's eyes. There was a smile in his own.
"So I may as well spend the time properly tormenting you."
"Die!"
A tentacle shot out of the suited man's chest and stabbed toward Asagiri.
Snap.
But to his utter disbelief, Asagiri didn't dodge.
He didn't even bother to move.
The tentacle struck his chest head-on.
Asagiri remained perfectly still.
Instead, the tentacle itself shattered into a mass of black mist.
"How could this be..."
Looking at Eddie Gluskin's stunned, horrified face, Asagiri gave a light chuckle.
"Come on. I've got curse resistance too. At your level, curse damage is completely meaningless."
"You... how can this be... This is cheating! It's cheating!"
"Nonsense."
Asagiri replied righteously to Eddie Gluskin's furious accusation.
"I see no talent here. Only effort and sweat."
Then Human Asura pinned Eddie Gluskin hard against the wall.
Though Eddie continued to struggle, the truth was exactly as Asagiri had said. Eddie was nothing like Chris Walker. Even after becoming this grotesque thing, his physical strength was mediocre. He had absolutely no chance of competing with Human Asura. As for his main method of attack, the curse tentacles, both Asagiri and Human Asura had enough resistance to render them irrelevant.
In short, the Eddie Gluskin that even Sakurakawa Rikka had been wary of posed no threat whatsoever before Asagiri.
"Still playing dead?"
Asagiri glanced at the male Player lying on the ground and spoke flatly.
"If you don't leave now, I'll kill you too. That would be convenient too."
Hearing that, the male Player hurriedly struggled to his feet. Several of his wounds pierced all the way through, and the curse corrosion inside them made his face twist in pain. Still, he forced out a flattering smile.
"Then... then I won't disturb you anymore. Goodbye."
The moment he finished speaking, he fled desperately toward the other side of the hall.
What a joke.
Anyone who didn't run now was a complete fool.
He had personally fought Eddie Gluskin. He knew exactly how terrifying that lunatic was.
And yet, before that mysterious Player in the black trench coat and dark gray mask, Eddie had been no more threatening than a chicken waiting to be butchered.
The fact that the other man hadn't killed him and looted his equipment already counted as extraordinary luck. If he stayed any longer, or worse, shamelessly tried to beg to clear the Dungeon together, he would definitely die.
Now that he had gotten his life back, the only sane choice was to run.
...
Two minutes later, beside the elevator entrance.
"Should we interrogate him? He might know what's on the floor above."
At Iwanaga Kotoko's question, Asagiri glanced at Eddie Gluskin, now held firmly by Human Asura. The thing's face was full of hatred and malice.
Then he gave a light laugh.
"There's no point. He feels no pain, so there's no useful interrogation method. But..."
As Human Asura carried Eddie step by step toward the elevator, the expression on Eddie Gluskin's face instantly changed.
The malice vanished.
In its place came terror. Pure terror.
And then despair.
Asagiri noticed it and said calmly,
"It seems the floors above, or maybe the act of riding this elevator itself, means facing some kind of danger. The kind of danger that even something as vicious as him finds unbearable."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]