Chapter 433: The World of Demons
"Investigate thoroughly, huh..."
Iwanaga Kotoko turned her gaze toward the entrance of the alley.
A man dressed in a suit stood there with his tie hanging crookedly around his neck. He looked like a middle aged office worker and reeked of alcohol even from more than ten meters away.
Leaning against the filthy wall, he mumbled incoherently to himself.
"How about I use Pale Domination to extract his memories?"
Hearing Iwanaga Kotoko's suggestion, Asagiri waved his hand and spoke softly.
"Until we understand the specific circumstances of this world, it's best not to use any extraordinary abilities."
"It would be troublesome if this world has some method of monitoring fluctuations of power."
The instant his words fell, Asagiri had already appeared in front of the drunken man.
The man looked up and saw a suspicious figure suddenly standing before him, dressed in a dark trench coat and wearing a black half face mask.
Confusion appeared in his unfocused, drunken eyes before quickly turning into irritation.
"Where did this weirdo come from? Get lost, get..."
"Slap!!"
Before the man could finish speaking, Asagiri slapped him across the face.
Naturally, Asagiri controlled his strength. He merely used the pain to sober the man up.
Before the drunkard could react, Asagiri grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the alley like a helpless animal.
"What... What are you going to do?"
By now, the man's drunkenness had vanished without a trace.
He looked at Asagiri and the others, each wearing distinctive and obviously abnormal clothing, and panic spread across his face.
Asagiri did not waste time explaining. He merely glanced at Yuuki Asuna beside him.
She immediately understood.
The sparkling tip of her sword came to rest against the man's throat.
"What is this place?"
The man froze at Asagiri's question.
Feeling the sharp edge pressing against his skin, he swallowed nervously and replied with great caution.
"Ch... Chiba City..."
"Chiba?"
Iwanaga Kotoko frowned.
Could this be another world similar to their own, like the Demi-Human Dungeon?
"You... You people..."
The man looked between Asagiri in his black trench coat, Yuuki Asuna in ornate armor holding a long sword, Iwanaga Kotoko wearing a masquerade mask and elegant dress, and Yamauchi Sakura in pure white priest robes with a staff in her hands.
As though suddenly realizing something, he cautiously asked,
"Could it be... Are you Demon Hunters?"
Hearing the term Demon Hunter, Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, and the others immediately recalled the world visited by a team from the Ashikaga Budo Association during the previous stage.
A world in which beings known as Demons existed, along with Demon Hunters who fought them.
"When was the last time the Gun Devil appeared?"
The middle aged man froze for a moment at Iwanaga Kotoko's question, then hurriedly answered,
"About twelve years ago..."
"The timeline is still similar to the last report. It seems time flows at the same rate in both worlds."
Asagiri whispered this to Iwanaga Kotoko before looking back at the man slumped against the ground.
"Have there been any unusual incidents during the past month?"
"Unusual incidents?"
The alcohol still clouded the man's thoughts.
He struggled to remember for a while before answering hesitantly,
"No... Nothing unusual, I think..."
"It seems that's all the information we can obtain from him."
Asagiri knocked the man unconscious with a single blow.
Iwanaga Kotoko could not help asking,
"Don't we need to kill him?"
"No."
Asagiri returned the Hunter Set to his Player inventory. His clothing immediately reverted to the black casual outfit he had been wearing when he entered the Dungeon.
He smiled and explained,
"When he wakes up, he'll assume he hallucinated because of the alcohol."
"Even if a drunkard claims he encountered a group of strangely dressed people in an alley before dawn, everyone will think he's speaking nonsense."
"Even if he reports it to the police, they won't bother investigating when he hasn't suffered any loss of property."
After Asagiri finished speaking, Kato Megumi gently added,
"But discovering a corpse or having a living person suddenly disappear would be a completely different matter."
...
Half an hour later, on the top floor of a building at a construction site.
"A world containing Demons and Demon Hunters, as well as something called the Public Safety Devil Countermeasure Special Operations Unit..."
Iwanaga Kotoko stood at the edge of the unfinished building and watched the sky gradually brighten.
A thoughtful look appeared in her violet eyes.
Then she turned toward Asagiri, Yuuki Asuna, Kato Megumi, and Yamauchi Sakura.
"Nyx must have had a reason for choosing this world as the battlefield for our decisive confrontation."
"Aside from this being a human dominated world, allowing it to exploit our humanity and make us hesitate during battle, there's a high probability that it will also make use of the Demons already present here."
"Just as it used those three forbidden ancient dragons against us."
"The strongest Demon to appear in this world should be the Gun Devil, right?"
Yuuki Asuna did not seem particularly concerned about the possibility Iwanaga Kotoko raised.
She merely spoke softly.
"Although the Demons in this world possess frightening names, their actual strength isn't particularly high."
"Even ordinary humans can successfully hunt them."
"The strongest among them, the Gun Devil, ultimately only attacks using firearms."
"Aside from March, whose Priest class gives her weaker defenses, none of us could possibly be injured by mere gunfire."
Yuuki Asuna's words were not arrogance.
According to the intelligence gathered and organized by Miwa Ashikaga regarding this world, despite the existence of countless Demons, it was actually less dangerous than their own reality.
The strength of a Demon depended on the degree of humanity's fear toward the concept it represented.
For example, when Demons first emerged, military forces frequently used firearms against them. This caused the public's fear of guns to rapidly intensify, ultimately leading to the catastrophic appearance of the Gun Devil.
However...
Yuuki Asuna did not even need to move at full speed.
As long as she remained in motion, she could directly withstand bullets fired from various weapons.
With her reflexes and speed, she could even dodge bullets when focused.
The Gun Devil simply could not pose any meaningful threat to her.
Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko might suffer minor injuries if directly struck by gunfire, but the Black Particles controlled by Iwanaga Kotoko were almost completely immune to physical damage.
Even Asagiri's Human Asura could not break through the Black Particle barrier head on.
The Gun Devil's bullets had no chance.
As for Asagiri himself...
His resistance to bullets was already so high that the Gun Devil's attacks would be completely ineffective against him.
He was a perfect counter.
As for the members of the Public Safety Devil Countermeasure Special Operations Unit who formed contracts with Demons, or the so called Fiends whose bodies had been possessed by Demons...
There was no need to discuss them.
Not only compared to Asagiri's team and Kaguya Shinomiya's team, but even compared to the Player teams dispatched by the allied factions, the Demon Hunters and Fiends were little different from ordinary people.
They were completely vulnerable.
"That may be true on the surface, but Nyx must have other trump cards prepared."
Asagiri spoke calmly.
"There should be Demons that have never appeared before. The Incarnations it created may also possess abilities designed specifically to counter ours..."
Halfway through his sentence, Asagiri suddenly stopped.
A black half face mask instantly appeared over his face as he switched directly into the Hunter Set.
"Someone's coming."
In a single instant, all five members of the team entered combat mode.
Approximately ten seconds later, steady footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
"They're here...?"
Seven figures emerged from the stairwell.
Six wore suits and uniforms while carrying cold weapons such as longswords and short blades.
The final person wore a hood and a mask shaped like a bird's beak.
"They're members of the Devil Countermeasure Special Operations Unit."
Asagiri shook his head, a slight hint of disappointment in his voice.
The newcomers could immediately tell that the mysterious man in the black trench coat felt neither fear nor caution at their arrival.
Instead, he appeared disappointed.
"Ignore his reaction."
One of the suited young men, whose appearance was rather handsome, spoke indifferently.
"The order from above is to kill them on sight."
"These people are extremely dangerous, so..."
His gaze shifted toward the figure beside him wearing the beaked gas mask.
"Violence Fiend, move."
The moment those words fell, the Violence Fiend vanished from his original position.
In the next instant, he had already appeared directly in front of Asagiri.
His right fist carried savage force and a silent, brutal aura as it smashed toward Asagiri's face.
"Hmph. He couldn't even react..."
The six members of the Devil Countermeasure Special Operations Unit began to smile, believing the mysterious enemy was no match for the Violence Fiend.
Then they witnessed something beyond their imagination.
"Bang!!"
Asagiri tilted his head and casually avoided the Violence Fiend's fist.
At the same moment, his right hand pierced directly through the Fiend's chest and crushed its heart.
Then his arm moved again.
Asagiri tore the Violence Fiend's body in half as effortlessly as dismantling a cheap toy.
Blood rained across the rooftop.
"Is that all?"
Bathed in crimson, Asagiri looked at the six remaining members of the Devil Countermeasure Special Operations Unit.
There was not the slightest emotional fluctuation in his black eyes.
His voice was utterly calm.
"You're so weak that I can't even find you interesting."
…..
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