Chapter 262: The Healer’s Healing Technique

Although Asagiri had said that, setting aside the fact that they were still inside a Dungeon, just judging from the team’s current condition, there was no way they could afford any unnecessary exertion in that department.

Iwanaga Kotoko looked cheerful and lively as ever, but both Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi had already noticed the fatigue in her eyes. It was the aftereffect of excessive mental energy expenditure.

As for Yuuki Asuna, she had continuously used the sword skill Stardust Splash in the previous battle, placing a severe strain on her wrist. At this point, she could not even clench her right hand into a fist, much less properly grip a sword. On top of that, after remaining in high speed motion for so long during the earlier boss fight, her legs were beginning to feel weak and heavy as well. She had already reached her limit.

Kato Megumi had not spent as much time in direct combat, but in order to close the distance to the Thousand Faced Stone Statue, she had kept her exclusive talent active while moving. Combined with the earlier battles against the parasitic Players, her mental and physical energy were both close to empty too.

By comparison, Asagiri was actually in the best condition out of the four of them.

Although he had used Supreme Magic Bullet once and burned through roughly eighty percent of his mental energy, he had converted some of his own physical stamina into mental energy through the effect of the Ring of Conversion. His body was tired, yes, but not badly enough to significantly impair him. More importantly, to make sure he could use Supreme Magic Bullet again at any moment, he had deliberately restored his mental energy to a state close to full.

Now that the Thousand Faced Cursed Entity had been eliminated, the system had granted them more than twenty hours of safe time. Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko would definitely recover during that period.

The real problem now was Yuuki Asuna’s wrist.

"It hurts so much..."

Sitting on the edge of the soft bed, Yuuki Asuna tried to bend the fingers of her right hand. The moment she did, a sharp pain ran through her wrist. She could even feel a slight numbness in her fingertips, which was not a good sign at all.

Asagiri crouched in front of her and gently took her wrist for a closer look. Then he pressed lightly with his finger.

The next second, Yuuki Asuna let out a pained gasp.

"Does it hurt that much?"

"Mhm..."

When she met Asagiri’s concerned gaze, Yuuki Asuna suddenly felt a little wronged. Tears even welled up in her eyes. For a moment, she really wanted to cry and ask her boyfriend to comfort her.

But then she remembered that Kato Megumi and Iwanaga Kotoko were still there, and that they were still in the Dungeon.

Yuuki Asuna took a deep breath, forcefully held back her emotions, wiped at her eyes with her left sleeve, then let out a long sigh and said softly, "What should I do? My wrist..."

"It’s probably a strained tendon. There might even be a slight tear."

Still holding Yuuki Asuna’s fair right hand, Asagiri answered quietly, "This kind of injury is different from simple physical exhaustion or mental fatigue. It won’t gradually recover on its own in the short term, and it could easily get worse. We need to treat it."

Hearing Asagiri’s assessment, Yuuki Asuna bit her lip lightly. Then, sensing the atmosphere turning heavy, she forced out a gentle smile and tried to lighten the mood.

"I didn’t expect you to know medicine."

"When I was in junior high, I used to be an athlete, so I can at least judge tendon injuries." Asagiri smiled. "Besides..."

He looked up at her and added with a light chuckle, "To make an eroge game with a massage theme, I specifically researched and studied a lot of related material."

Hearing that, Yuuki Asuna sighed, torn between irritation and amusement.

"So most of your knowledge was learned for making eroge games? Honestly, I don’t even know what to say."

After that, she turned to look at Iwanaga Kotoko. The smile on her face faded, replaced by resolve.

"Necro, if I just cut off my right hand and then have you repair it with Black Particles, would that also restore the damaged tendons inside?"

"No."

Iwanaga Kotoko’s face remained calm. She rejected the suggestion without hesitation.

"Although my Black Particles can reconstruct a severed limb, it still takes time for the restored part to fully stabilize. You also can’t do anything too strenuous before it completely recovers, or the whole thing becomes pointless. There will definitely be more fighting ahead, so using such an extreme method to heal your injury is meaningless. You’d just lose blood for nothing. That idea won’t work."

"That makes this troublesome..."

Yuuki Asuna lowered her head and stared at her wrist, brows knitted together.

"I can still use a sword with my left hand, but I’m nowhere near as proficient. And if my right hand can’t exert any force, my combat ability will drop drastically... It’s a shame our team doesn’t have a Healer."

"Another Player team should."

Asagiri stood up from beside the bed and spoke calmly.

"The team that joined the boss battle with us earlier only got permission because they had a female Player with a Healer class. The White Suit Man wouldn’t have brought a team like that otherwise, given that their overall strength wasn’t especially impressive. I’ll go find her. A Healer who survived all the way to the third stage shouldn’t have any trouble treating this."

Hearing that, Yuuki Asuna first let out a small sigh of relief. Then she suddenly remembered what had happened in the restaurant earlier and hesitated.

"But if the other Players find out we’re not in good condition right now, what if they..."

"There’s no time to worry about that."

Iwanaga Kotoko lightly patted Yuuki Asuna on the shoulder and said with a sweet smile, "Your wrist comes first. Even if things really develop that far later, then we’ll just team up with the White Suit Team and Mr. Ichikawa’s group and kill all the other Players. It just so happens that my mental energy needs replenishing, and Leader can absorb physical strength through his Rope Dart."

...

Half an hour later, inside Room 7012, a female Player who looked like she was still in college stood there with a nervous expression, both hands trembling slightly.

Even though the Hotel’s temperature had already returned to normal, her forehead was still covered in sweat.

"Don’t be nervous."

Iwanaga Kotoko smiled and patted the healer’s shoulder. "We’re not devils. We just want you to heal our teammate."

The female Player nodded stiffly, then instinctively glanced toward the living room outside the master bedroom.

Her two male teammates were sitting side by side on the sofa. To the left sat the Player in the long black trench coat. To the right sat the White Suit Man.

At that moment, the appearance of her two teammates perfectly matched one sentence.

Pitiful, weak, helpless, and completely too scared to move.

"Um... can I start now...?"

Seeing how cautious and nervous the healer looked, Yuuki Asuna nodded and spoke as gently as she could.

"Yes. Sorry for troubling you."

"No, no, not at all..."

The healer carefully clasped her hands together. A ball of soft light appeared between her palms. Then she slowly placed it over Yuuki Asuna’s right wrist.

The moment the light touched her skin, Yuuki Asuna felt a wave of warmth. The soreness in her wrist immediately lessened.

"Um... it’ll take about ten minutes. Is that... okay?"

"Yes. That’s fine. Take your time."

...

Ten minutes later, the ball of light in the healer’s hands gradually faded.

Yuuki Asuna raised her right wrist and tried clenching her fingers. The previous soreness, the weakness, the inability to exert force, all of it had completely vanished. Even when she made a tight fist, there was no pain at all.

"Thank you."

"You’re welcome. Um..."

After walking out of the master bedroom, the female healer looked toward Asagiri and asked carefully, "The treatment is done... Can my teammates and I leave now?"

"If you want to leave, then leave."

At those words, the female healer and her two teammates all stiffened in shock, their pupils trembling.

Fortunately, Asagiri did not follow that with something like, You can leave, but leave your lives behind.

Instead, he smiled and continued, "You’re not a very strong Player team. In this Dungeon, your overall level is only a little below average. Even though the system says the next stretch will be safe, nobody knows what will really happen. Maybe during this empty period, someone will decide to kill other Players and take their phones. Staying on the same floor as us is the safest choice for you. Think it over yourselves."

The healer exchanged glances with her two teammates, and the three of them quickly reached a decision.

"If possible, we’d like to stay on the Seventh Floor too."

Asagiri nodded.

"Fine. Go find a room."

...

The time that followed was quiet, but tense.

During this period, Asagiri’s team, together with the White Suit Team and Mr. Ichikawa’s group, explored the various floors of the Hotel and exchanged whatever information they uncovered.

No abnormalities appeared on any floor below the Twenty Fourth Floor.

The woman from the White Suit Team also personally confirmed that the barrier she had placed at the entrance to the security equipment room on the First Floor remained intact. If anyone tried to damage it, she would sense it immediately.

As for the floors above the Twenty Fourth Floor, those two teams followed Asagiri’s earlier decision and did not investigate any farther upward.

His reasoning was simple.

Since the areas below the Twenty Fourth Floor had already been confirmed safe, and since it was now clear that the Thousand Faced Cursed Entity had been forced back to the Twenty Fourth Floor by that so called God, then if that God possessed a physical body, it could only exist on one of the floors above the Twenty Fourth.

Even though the system had declared the coming period safe, it had also specifically added: If Players trigger certain conditions, the safe period may end early.

There was no reason to go looking for death on purpose.

And so, in that strangely calm yet oppressive atmosphere, time slowly passed until the system finally sent out a new notification, signaling that the next phase of the Dungeon was about to begin.

.....

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