Chapter 259: We Are Safe, For Now

As Alice’s words fell, the towering body of the Thousand Faced Stone Statue began to tremble violently.

One by one, the faces on its surface peeled away amid shrill wails and desperate cries. After falling to the ground, they struggled weakly for a few moments before fine cracks spread across them. In the end, they crumbled into dark gray particles like drifting sand.

The man in the white suit and his three teammates stared at Asagiri, who stood before the collapsing statue. Even the ordinary parasitic creatures and fused parasites they had been fighting were rapidly disintegrating as well. Confusion filled their faces.

"Is it... over just like that? Last time he used this ability, he couldn’t instantly wipe out all the parasitic creatures. So why this time...?"

"You still haven’t figured it out?"

The woman wearing the fox mask took a deep breath. Lowering her head, she looked at the gash on her arm, a wound so deep that the bone could be seen. Her voice trembled from the pain, yet she still forced herself to raise her head and explain to her teammates.

"If I’m not mistaken, the ability of that golden haired girl he summoned is an instant kill judgment against every target within a certain range. As for the standard of judgment... I’m guessing it’s based on mental strength or mental resistance. The Thousand Faced Stone Statue had already sent out all the parasitic Player puppets under its control to try and kill us, but all of them were wiped out by that black rain. That means the faces on its main body were just the souls of ordinary people who died in this Hotel. From the moment that black clothed Player stepped into the effective range of that ability, the Thousand Faced Stone Statue had already lost."

After hearing her explanation, the man in the white suit and his two teammates finally understood what had just happened, but another thought immediately rose in their hearts.

So this... is the strength of the strongest Player?

Earlier, during the operation when all the Player teams were working together, Iwanaga Kotoko had asked who among them possessed mental attack abilities. At the time, there had been five in total, including herself. Yet among those five, four only had mental interference skills, abilities that created illusions, disrupted emotions, or inflicted negative status effects. The only one who possessed a true mental killing move was Iwanaga Kotoko, with her [Undead Touch].

But [Undead Touch] had obvious limitations. It could only absorb the enemy’s mental power through direct contact from the ghostly hand.

On one hand, against an enemy of equal level, no one would just stand there obediently and let their mental power be drained. On the other hand, the ghostly hand itself had no overwhelming offensive or restraining power. In the end, it was merely a control support skill.

Alice’s exclusive ability, however, was far simpler and far more brutal.

Against targets with sufficiently high mental power, it had no effect. But for anything that failed the judgment, it was an instant kill.

And there was no limitation on the number of targets.

Whether there were a hundred enemies or ten thousand within her range, as long as they entered it, all of them had to submit to that cruel judgment of life and death.

The main body of the Thousand Faced Stone Statue had been made almost entirely from the souls of ordinary humans. And through everything that had happened before, Asagiri had already confirmed that because those souls had been trapped in this miserable cage, forcibly controlled and fused by that Cursed entity, their mental state was incredibly unstable. Their mental strength was even weaker than that of healthy ordinary people.

Of course, even knowing that weakness would not have helped most Players.

To exploit it, one first had to cross through a battlefield full of parasitic creatures and reach the main body itself. And then they needed a mental attack ability powerful enough to affect thousands of soul targets at once.

At this stage, there were barely any Players capable of such a thing.

"Do... don’t... please spare me..."

After everything else had been reduced to ash, there was still one last writhing lump of flesh in the middle of the debris. A slit opened on its surface like a mouth, and from it came cries that sounded like an infant’s sobs, so pitiful it made the skin crawl.

"Without those souls protecting you, your true form is this fragile and ugly."

Hearing Asagiri’s words and sensing him walk closer one step at a time, the flesh mass tried to wriggle away. But it was as slow as a snail. It could only continue crying for mercy.

"Spare me... spare me..."

Squish.

Asagiri stepped on the crying lump of flesh without hesitation and ground it under his heel. Then he raised his left hand toward the bloodied pulp on the floor and spoke softly.

"Holy Cross."

The cross of holy flame fully engulfed the flesh, burning it into nothing but ash.

At that exact moment, the phones of Yuuki Asuna, the others, and the four members of the White Suit Team, all of which had been turned on, lit up automatically and began to ring with notifications.

A new message appeared inside the eye shaped app.

[The "Parasite" has been eliminated by the Players. The next twenty four hours are a safe period. If Players trigger certain conditions, the safe period may end early.]

[As the safe period has begun, a special notification is now issued. Chargers for various phone models are stored in the staff lounge on the Twenty Fifth Floor of the Hotel.]

[Twenty three hours from now, a new Dungeon notification will be issued.]

"Is it over...?"

The four members of the White Suit Team dropped to the ground, utterly drained. The martial artist sprawled directly across the soft carpet, completely spent. Seeing the banquet hall return to normal, he let out a long breath as if a mountain had finally been lifted from his chest.

"Phew... I’m dead tired... It’s finally over..."

"It’s only temporarily over."

Leaning on her cane, Iwanaga Kotoko rested against the wall. Even though she had also spent a huge amount of mental energy and was clearly not in good shape, she still held herself with the poise of a proper young lady from a distinguished family.

"Violet, Phantom, how are you two?"

"I’m fine."

Yuuki Asuna put away Gleaming Light, pursed her lips, and quietly hid her right hand behind her back.

But the moment Asagiri walked over, he noticed the movement. Reaching out, he took hold of her right hand and immediately felt the subtle tremors running through it.

"You used Sword Skills too many times. Your right wrist is under serious strain. Don’t force yourself."

Kato Megumi rubbed the space between her brows with two fingers. Her voice remained as soft as ever.

"Because of the battle plan, I kept moving while my exclusive talent was active, so I consumed a lot of mental energy and stamina. But I can still fight."

"Mm, same here."

Asagiri nodded, then turned to look at the four members of the White Suit Team sprawled on the other side and chuckled.

"What about you? Still breathing? Can you stand up?"

"Stand... can’t stand..."

The man in the white suit lifted a hand weakly and waved it.

"We’re burnt out..."

"Oh? Plagiarizing me now?"

He forced a tired smile.

"It’s mainly because what you said sounded pretty fitting, so I borrowed it."

Then his expression became more serious.

"Our consumption is indeed severe. If we rest for a while, we should at least recover enough mobility to walk, but in the short term... we won’t be able to fight again."

Asagiri strolled over and looked at the four of them, all of them clearly used up and incapable of continuing.

Then he shook his head.

"Sigh. Really, a battle like that left you in this state? I’m honestly disappointed."

Hearing the obvious mockery in his tone, the fox masked woman could not help retorting,

"That’s because your team is too outrageous, alright? This was a hidden BOSS in a Phase Three Dungeon. After taking it down, not only can the four of you still move, you aren’t even seriously injured. After a short rest, you could probably keep fighting. If you ask me, you four are way scarier than the Thousand Faced Stone Statue."

"Oh, the Thousand Faced Stone Statue, huh..."

Asagiri turned and slowly walked back to the place where the Cursed entity’s main body had been burned away. The four members of the White Suit Team immediately tensed up, and a terrible thought flashed through their minds.

Could it be... it wasn’t over yet?

The eye icon app had already issued the notification. Had this black clothed Player discovered some new danger?

Just as they were growing anxious, Asagiri stared at the pile of ash and spoke in an extremely solemn tone.

"A truly memorable battle. I probably won’t forget you for the rest of my life, Parasitic Meatball."

White Suit Team: "..."

The fox masked woman took off her mask and looked at Yuuki Asuna and the others.

"Your captain... is he always this abstract?"

"Yeah..."

Yuuki Asuna let out a quiet sigh, looking helpless.

"It’s been a while since he last used the nickname humiliation strategy... but yes. He’s always like this."

"The name Parasitic Meatball... isn’t that a little too abstract...?"

"What do you know?"

Iwanaga Kotoko glanced at the woman and answered with absolute confidence.

"This is the enemy humiliation phase. The strong should trample the weak with maximum cruelty!"

The four members of the White Suit Team fell silent.

Now they were certain.

The team in front of them was abstract in the most complete sense of the word.

Could it be...

Was becoming this abstract the price of becoming truly strong?

Otherwise, maybe next time they entered a Dungeon, they should also try acting a little more abstract themselves?

.....

[If you don’t want to wait for the next update, read 50 Chapters ahead on P@treon.]

[[email protected]/FanficLord03]