Chapter 201: The Villain "Lord Shadow"
"Has it arrived..."
As the strips of cloth wrapped around the wooden box gradually turned to ash, Iwanaga Kotoko, the most sensitive to auras among them, grew visibly serious and warned in a low voice,
"Be careful. Everything strange we've encountered so far combined is still weaker than whatever is about to appear..."
Before she could finish, Human Asura bent down, picked up the wooden box, ignored the thick crimson liquid spilling all over its body, then turned with lightning speed and sprinted back toward the fire escape they had just come from.
"Violet, move!"
Yuuki Asuna froze for a moment when she heard Asagiri's command, but she reacted instantly and stepped aside.
The next second, Human Asura charged straight into the fire escape carrying the wooden box and rapidly descended.
"Close the door."
"Got it."
Yuuki Asuna slammed the fire door shut without hesitation.
Bang!
Asagiri did not spare the door a second glance. Without wasting any time, he rushed straight to the elevator in the center of the hall, raised his head, and looked up.
A layer of dark red, viscous liquid had already spread across the metal plate sealing the top.
Asagiri flicked out the Rope Dart in his hand, but the moment its tip touched that dark red substance, all its momentum seemed to be devoured. It failed to pierce through and dropped uselessly back down.
"What a shame. Looks like I can't skip class that way."
Watching the fluid coordination between Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna, and the way they reached an understanding without even speaking, Sakurakawa Rikka parted her lips slightly, her expression blank with confusion.
"You... why are you so good at this...?"
"You can still ask that at a time like this?"
Asagiri let out a soft laugh, then pointed toward the fire door of the stairwell in the distance. As he slipped the dark gray mask back over his face, he said evenly,
"It's here."
[Your Persona Human Asura has been destroyed. The curse resistance of the characteristic [Regeneration of the End] has increased.]
"Necro."
"Okay~"
The moment Asagiri called her code name, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately moved to the elevator, raised her head to observe the dark red liquid coating both the ground and the ceiling above, and began searching through the eerie fluctuations for a way to break the barrier in this area.
"Phantom."
"Understood."
Kato Megumi stepped forward and lightly touched Asagiri, Iwanaga Kotoko, and Yuuki Asuna in turn, placing the presence-reduction effect on all three of them. At the same time, Yuuki Asuna switched the weapon in her hand from Gleaming Light to the Exorcist Longsword, preparing specifically for spiritual enemies.
"Sakurakawa Rikka."
After confirming that his teammates were ready, Asagiri looked toward Sakurakawa Rikka and said with a faint smile,
"Didn't you say you'd take the Main Tank role? Then you'll be the first to fight that thing. Once we think we've gathered enough information, we'll step in."
"That's not a Main Tank. That's a sacrifice sent ahead to test the enemy."
Sakurakawa Rikka said that first, then gave Asagiri a long look before walking a few steps toward the fire door.
"Anyway, don't forget what you promised. And don't intentionally use me as bait."
The moment she finished speaking, the fire door to the stairwell exploded open.
Bang!!!
The sheer force warped the metal door out of shape.
What stepped out of the stairwell was a humanoid shape made entirely of thick, dark red liquid, its body constantly twisting and writhing.
Once it entered the hall, it stopped for a moment. Then its body shook violently, rapidly taking on the shape of a man in black combat fatigues. He wore no tactical helmet. His face was unnaturally pale, a vertical scar cut across his right eye, and he looked to be around forty with a harsh crew cut.
"Where..."
The middle aged man took two steps forward and stared at Sakurakawa Rikka's face with his dead gray right eye and his azure left eye.
"Shadow... where..."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
Sakurakawa Rikka tightened her grip on the long sword glowing with eerie purple light and answered calmly,
"There's only been me here from the beginning."
"Is that so?"
The middle aged man swept her with a glance. The next instant, his body sank into the pool of dark red liquid on the ground. Then he reappeared directly in front of her, raising his right hand with terrifying speed and reaching for her face before she could even react.
"Then die."
Sakurakawa Rikka retreated at once, but his arm had already reached its limit. Dark red tentacles shot out of his palm and pierced straight through her head.
Bang.
Sakurakawa Rikka's head exploded.
Yet in the next moment, her body dissolved into a mass of black mist and reformed several meters away. This time, however, when she looked at the emotionless face of the man in black, a trace of fear finally appeared in her eyes.
"Hmm? So you also possess some kind of power close to immortality .."
The middle aged man tugged at the black tactical glove on his hand and spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.
"It seems you're special too. Then I'll capture you first."
As Iwanaga Kotoko watched the battle unfold, her mind ran rapidly.
Judging by his outfit, he was clearly Black Watch. But he was definitely no longer purely human.
His perception was not sharp. He had failed to notice the other four at all. Perhaps it was because he had fused with something supernatural, leaving his mind unstable and incapable of calmly observing his surroundings or sensing hostile intent.
His body was made of the viscous dark red liquid covering this floor and the elevator exit above. He also possessed the bizarre ability to dive into that liquid and emerge from any point on the ground.
As for his defense...
Sakurakawa Rikka seemed entirely unable to injure him. Her two sword strikes had both been casually avoided, and then she was instantly killed by his dark red fluid construct.
Every Black Watch member was an elite among elites, with combat skills far beyond those of ordinary Players. And it was equally obvious that the immortal Sakurakawa Rikka had never seriously trained her own close combat skill at all.
"Sword skill..."
Just as the middle aged man prepared to continue hunting Sakurakawa Rikka, he suddenly sensed danger.
Before he could react, a streak of deep crimson and dazzling white had already flashed to his face.
"Gleaming Light Thrust!"
Yuuki Asuna, wielding the Exorcist Longsword, drove the blade directly into the man's brow. In the next instant, her figure vanished.
"King's Gambit."
Asagiri swapped places with Yuuki Asuna and appeared right in front of the enemy. Without caring that the blow to the brow should have been fatal, and following the principle of beating a drowning dog while staying cautious, he summoned Human Asura again.
Human Asura tore the man's body cleanly in half.
"Netherworld Grip."
A giant Pale Ghost Hand materialized out of nowhere. Its five fingers, each tipped with pitch black claws, closed around the Black Watch member's torn body and crushed it to dust.
"Is it over...?"
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's question, Iwanaga Kotoko shook her head grimly.
"No. Not even close."
Just as she said that, the dark red liquid carpeting the entire floor surged again. Another humanoid shape rose from it, rapidly transforming back into the same man they had just destroyed.
"Shadow..."
This time, after reforming, the man did not attack immediately. Instead, he stared directly into Asagiri's eyes beneath the mask and spoke in a hoarse, low voice.
"You are the only one who has ever inflicted humiliation on Black Watch since its creation. Five members were sacrificed, and we still couldn't even see your face. That disgrace will be washed away today by me... the Blackwatch Commander."
"So you're the Blackwatch Commander. A rank above the others."
Asagiri nodded lightly, then chuckled.
"No wonder Black Watch assigned you to be a guard dog on Floor B1. Your barking really is annoying."
The Blackwatch Commander's expression did not change in the slightest.
"I accepted the duty of guarding this place for the sake of a noble ideal. Someone like you would never understand."
"Enough talk."
Asagiri already knew how Black Watch members thought. They were fanatics to the core, to the point that they could willingly sacrifice themselves and transform into grotesque beings. There was no breaking their minds with a few mocking words.
"I can't be bothered to waste more time talking to you. You aren't worth the effort."
"That suits me just fine."
The moment his words fell, the Blackwatch Commander's body sank into the dark red liquid once again. Then he reappeared right in front of Asagiri, his left arm transforming into a blood colored whip that lashed toward Asagiri's body.
Bang!!!
The whip slammed into Asagiri's raised right arm with a heavy thud.
"That's all?"
Asagiri caught the blood whip with his backhand and stared straight into the Commander's pale face, his voice smiling and cold at the same time.
"Your hatred for me, your resolve... is only this much?"
.....
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