038 The Strangeness in the Water
"A strange aura..."
Asagiri stepped down the stairs, motioned for the Suit Man and the Woman with Heavy Makeup standing there to move aside, and then walked to the sturdy fire door. While observing, he asked Iwanaga Kotoko.
"Necro, when you came here before, did you not sense a strange aura at the door?"
"No."
Iwanaga Kotoko shook her head, her tone flat.
"The fire door just wouldn't open. I don't have the means to break through such a thick fire door, and at that time, I wasn't sure what was on this floor, so I didn't act rashly."
"A strange aura suddenly appeared behind a fire door that couldn't be opened..."
Yuuki Asuna walked to Asagiri's side, observing the fire door in front of them, and said thoughtfully.
"Is it possible that the source of the strangeness in this Hotel has intelligence? It knows that we might come to this floor and enter the Hotel corridor, so it deliberately arranged for Banshees to ambush us?"
Before Asagiri could reply, Yuuki Asuna shook her head, negating the idea she had just proposed herself.
"No, it shouldn't be like that. The Red-Clothed Female Ghost we encountered before was a territorial spirit that couldn't leave its own floor. The Banshees in this instance dungeon should all be territorial spirits that cannot leave their own territory. Otherwise, there would be no need for the temperature to rise; wouldn't it be better to just let the Banshees chase the Players? There must be some kind of restriction on the source of the strangeness in this Hotel, but... it can still set up ambushes for Players through some means, and based on the information we have, the way it can do this is...."
Yuuki Asuna leaned closer to the fire door connecting the stairwell and the Hotel corridor, observing carefully, and muttered to herself.
"There's no gap between the wall and the ground... I see..."
At this point, Yuuki Asuna looked at Asagiri.
"Leader, I speculate that behind this fire door is water, water that covers the entire Hotel corridor on this floor. The source of the strangeness in this Hotel can not only control Banshees and spread strangeness through water, but also, in turn, control the water contaminated by its strangeness to set up ambushes for Players, just like the bottled mineral water these two people drank. If we open the door directly, the water previously blocked by the fire door will instantly rush out. Even if we manage to survive under the pressure of the water, we will definitely get the water contaminated with that guy's strangeness into our bodies."
The Suit Man beside them heard this and couldn't help but look skeptical.
"Water covering an entire Hotel corridor? Can that really be done... It would explode, wouldn't it..."
"It's a strange phenomenon itself; it will violate common sense, that is common sense."
Iwanaga Kotoko, standing on the steps, raised her cane, tapped the ground lightly, and said with a smile.
"But as long as you can find the common sense of the strangeness, no matter how strange the phenomenon, it will be easily solved."
Just as Iwanaga Kotoko finished speaking, she suddenly seemed to sense something. A look of vigilance appeared in her deep purple eyes, and she immediately said.
"Leader, Violet, be careful!"
The next second, the bodies of the Suit Man and the Woman with Heavy Makeup inflated like water balloons. Their bodies suddenly expanded, and their skin seemed about to burst, about to explode immediately.
Asagiri seemed to have anticipated this. The moment Iwanaga Kotoko gave the warning, he directly picked up Yuuki Asuna beside him, instantly crossed several steps, and reached the corner at the top of the stairs. He also picked up Iwanaga Kotoko with one hand and ran towards the top of the stairs.
"Bang!!!"
A deafening explosion echoed in the stairwell, accompanied by the sound of flesh and blood fragments hitting the wall.
By the time the bodies of those two Players exploded, Asagiri had already taken Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko back to the position corresponding to the Sixth Floor of the Hotel, completely avoiding the blood and minced meat that splattered during the explosion, and was not affected at all.
"Leader's speed of action is indeed very fast."
Iwanaga Kotoko didn't seem panicked at all. After Asagiri put her down, she just tidied her clothes and Hat, and said with a smile.
"I see, it seems that the source of that strangeness can control Banshees or humans who have drunk the water to explode at any time. The reason it didn't control them before might be that this method consumes its power, or it might have wanted to wait until we lowered our guard to deliver a decisive blow, or it might be both."
"No matter what..."
Carrying one person in each hand, he climbed so many steps in just a few seconds, yet Asagiri showed no sign of effort and still looked relaxed, saying with a smile in his voice.
"Using such a one-time method at this time shows that the source of this Hotel has felt threatened, hehe, going all out, a cornered dog will jump over the wall, stubbornly resisting, a mantis trying to stop a chariot, a dead duck with a stubborn beak, I see it won't shed tears until it sees the coffin, it won't give up until it reaches the Yellow River, it's Ding Zhen at a glance, identified as, wanting to be severely attacked by a Human Asura."
Yuuki Asuna suppressed the urge to retort and sighed slightly.
"However, the difficulty of this instance dungeon is indeed not on the same level as the novice dungeon..."
Compared to the novice dungeon Kyozan Mental Hospital, where you can clear it no matter what, it just depends on what rating you can get, and you don't even need hands, as long as you can walk, or even crawl, you can clear it, the difficulty of this Hotel instance dungeon has indeed increased a lot.
With the methods of that strange source, as long as a Player has drunk the Hotel's water, when the Players gather together, it can control the Players who have drunk the water to explode, splashing blood and flesh and spreading its strangeness to other Players.
Even if Players realize through some means that "water" spreads strangeness, Players are still human. As long as they are human, they will want to live. It is very likely that a Player who has drunk the Hotel's water will hide the fact that they drank the water because they don't want to be targeted or even killed by other Players.
The numerical disadvantage referred to in the special prompt Asagiri received actually does not refer to the number comparison between Banshees and Players, but rather the number comparison between "Players not contaminated by strangeness" and "Players already contaminated by strangeness and who can be controlled by Banshees to explode at any time."
It's just that this time, the source of the strangeness in this Hotel has completely failed.
Not only did Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna know the important information that "water" can spread the anomaly early in the dungeon, but among the Players, there was also Iwanaga Kotoko, who could directly sense the anomaly's aura and see through who had been possessed by the anomaly at a glance.
What is this playing? How do we play this?
Originally a strange type of dungeon that was a mental torment and internal consumption for Players, testing their caution and psychological endurance, it was directly turned into a game of hide-and-seek by these three people.
Moreover...
What was hidden was not the Player, but the source of the anomaly. Once Asagiri found it...
It would be in for a good time.