Chapter 272: The Advantage Is Mine
Watching the Priest's eyes dim completely and his once tall, powerful body shrivel rapidly within his wide crimson Roman robe, Asagiri remained cautious.
He had the Human Asura crush the man's head directly.
Only then did he turn around and look at his three teammates.
"How are you all holding up?"
Iwanaga Kotoko nodded, then her gaze fell on Yuuki Asuna, who was standing nearby with Gleaming Light already put away, one hand clutching her right arm. A rare trace of worry appeared in Kotoko's dark purple eyes.
"I'm fine, but Violet and Phantom…"
"I'm fine…"
Yuuki Asuna instinctively tried to act tough, but when she noticed Asagiri's gaze, she deflated like a leaking balloon and let out a small sigh.
"Alright… my right arm is broken, and I used up a lot of stamina. My condition is terrible."
"I'm alright."
Kato Megumi picked up the Indian Tomahawk from the ground and returned it to her inventory. Then she slung the Bloodstained Nightingale Bow back behind her and looked at Asagiri with a gentle expression.
"I used some stamina and mental power, but it hasn't affected me too much. I also didn't suffer any serious injuries."
"Injuries can be healed, but…"
Yuuki Asuna looked at Asagiri, who stood there completely unharmed. She stopped halfway through, but her meaning was already clear.
"Thirty hours."
Asagiri understood what Yuuki Asuna wanted to say. He glanced at the Fox Mask Woman standing nearby and did not bother hiding it just because she was present.
"After this use, Sacrifice has a thirty hour cooldown. Unless I let the Persona be destroyed and collapse, I won't be able to use Sacrifice again before this Dungeon ends."
Hoder Franklin's exclusive ability, Sacrifice, had a minimum cooldown of twelve hours after each use. The cooldown also increased depending on the severity of the injuries Asagiri sustained.
When Asagiri used that ability just now, he did not appear to have lost any limbs or suffered any visible deformities, but in reality, he had been on the verge of death. The severity far surpassed something like losing an arm.
If he had delayed even ten seconds… no, even five seconds longer, he might have died before that Priest did.
And now, there were only twenty-six hours left until the Dungeon time limit ended. Unless he allowed the Persona Hoder Franklin to collapse, Sacrifice, which now required a thirty hour cooldown, could no longer be used in this Dungeon.
"Let's return to the Third Floor first."
When Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, Iwanaga Kotoko, and the Fox Mask Woman arrived at the Hotel's buffet restaurant on the Third Floor, they found the atmosphere inside heavy and silent.
The surviving Players were either sitting on the ground or kneeling outright. Almost every Player's face was filled with grief and despair. The atmosphere was so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.
"Did we win…? That's good…"
The White Suit Man, sitting on the ground, saw Asagiri and the others return and forced a strained smile. He tried to stand and greet them, but Asagiri walked over, knelt on one knee, and gently pressed a hand on his shoulder.
"Just speak from there. Have you counted how many Players are still alive?"
Hearing Asagiri's question, the White Suit Man's smile turned bitter. He lowered his voice.
"Counting our two teams… thirty-three Players are alive, but…"
The White Suit Man looked toward the Healer-type Players with recovery skills who were treating the wounded, his tone heavy.
"Some Players are too badly injured. They probably can't be saved…"
"Oh, I see."
Hearing the White Suit Man's words, Iwanaga Kotoko, who stood beside Asagiri, nodded slightly. Then she walked to the front of the gathered Players and spoke in a calm tone.
"Listen carefully, everyone. Give up on the Players whose injuries are too severe. The mental power of Healer-type Players is also limited. Heal the Players who still have a chance of surviving. Don't keep wasting mental power."
After Iwanaga Kotoko said this, the support-class Players with healing abilities all showed reluctance. However, no one objected to her decision.
The Players knew very clearly that while Iwanaga Kotoko's words sounded heartless, they were a rational judgment.
Those Players whose bodies had been deformed by flames, or whose limbs had been severed, who remained unconscious and unresponsive, could perhaps be kept alive if the Healers spent massive amounts of mental power on them. But at most, that would only maintain their lives.
It would be impossible for them to continue fighting afterward.
If this Dungeon could not be cleared and the Fire Clad Believers broke through their defense, every Player here might die.
Saving them at any cost was meaningless.
Those Players with overly severe injuries could only hope their vitality was strong enough to last until the Dungeon time limit ended. As long as the Dungeon was cleared, all injuries sustained inside it would be healed.
At this point, the Players no longer hid anything.
Those with items that could restore stamina or mental power actively contributed them for others to recover. The Healer-type Players also worked tirelessly to treat the injured.
The difficulty of this Dungeon was too high. It had forced the Players to understand one thing.
If they did not go all out and cooperate sincerely, then in the end, everyone…
Would die in this Hotel.
…
An hour later, Asagiri and the White Suit Man finished tallying the Players who could still fight.
Putting aside differences in strength, there were only twenty-seven Players still capable of combat.
In the past half hour, three severely injured Players had died. Three more remained unconscious from their wounds.
When this Dungeon first began, there had been more than one hundred forty Players in total. When they gathered in the buffet restaurant, there had still been one hundred thirty-six Players.
Even excluding the twenty plus Players who had been parasitized, the number of Players who entered this Dungeon had been at least over one hundred ten.
But now, including the eight members of Asagiri's team and the White Suit Man's team, plus the three members of Mr. Ichikawa's team, only twenty-seven Players could still fight.
Among them, more than half were in extremely poor condition and could only barely fight.
There was no advanced reasoning or analysis involved.
Only pure combat selection.
Players whose strength was insufficient had died.
And just then, every Player received another prompt from the system.
The content of the prompt pushed the already despairing atmosphere straight to the edge.
[The next "battle" will begin in twenty-three hours. Enemy count: thirty.]
"Thirty… thirty enemies…"
The White Suit Man looked at the prompt displayed on his phone screen. His heart went numb with shock, and a bitter, helpless smile appeared on his face.
Thirty enemies?
Just now, counting the Priest who had been repeatedly delayed in the Hotel lobby, along with the three Fire Clad Believers the Players had stalled at the cost of their lives, there had only been four enemies in total.
And yet the battle had already become that tragic.
Thirty enemies…
Even if none of them were high-level combatants like the Priest, even if every single one was only a Fire Clad Believer, it was still far beyond what the current Players could withstand.
There were only twenty-seven Players who could still fight.
Their numbers were lower than the enemies.
"I…"
The martial artist teammate of the White Suit Man felt the atmosphere in the hall and his expression grew solemn. He took the initiative to speak.
"It's fine. I can still use Pre-borrow…"
"Please don't borrow anymore."
Before the martial artist Player could finish, Asagiri interrupted him with a laugh.
"What are you doing, taking out a payday loan? Do you think you can borrow and then default on the debt? Using Pre-borrow three times in such a short span won't just shorten your lifespan. You'll die."
"You… how do you know the effect of my exclusive talent?"
"This is called an intelligence network. You should learn from it."
Asagiri replied with a laugh, then looked at the Players with heavy expressions and spoke in a relaxed tone.
"There's no need to worry that much. I've thought of a way."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"There's an organization in this world called Black Watch. In the security equipment room on the First Floor of the Hotel, there is a button. Pressing it will activate the entire Hotel's alarm system and attract Black Watch here."
"I have confirmed that Black Watch and those Fire Clad Believers belong to opposing factions. Once they meet, they will inevitably start fighting. We only need to stall for one and a half hours until the Dungeon time limit ends and we clear it."
"There's no need to look so gloomy."
"The advantage is ours."
"Rea… really?"
"Really."
Asagiri raised his hand and removed his dark gray mask, revealing his true face.
All the Players present could not help but freeze.
Even the members of the White Suit Man's team and Mr. Ichikawa's team had not expected that this powerful Player, the one who had controlled the situation from beginning to end, was actually so young.
He looked like he was still in high school or college.
And surprisingly handsome.
Seeing Asagiri's confident and unhurried expression, as if everything was still under his control, the Players felt their unsettled hearts gradually calm.
They could feel it.
He was not afraid at all.
As long as they followed his steps and obeyed his commands…
They would definitely survive.
…
Ten minutes later, in Room 7012 of the Hotel.
"Is the plan you mentioned really foolproof?"
Hearing Yuuki Asuna's question, Asagiri's attitude changed completely from when he had been in the buffet restaurant.
He shook his head.
"How could it be? I was just giving them a reason to feel at ease. Otherwise, before the enemies even arrived, those Players would collapse on their own."
.....
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