"Let us be cannon fodder? But... but..."
The Man in Suit first stuttered, then exchanged glances with the Woman with Heavy Makeup. They recalled the public hint given by the app before entering the dungeon, and their faces became extremely ugly.
[Absolutely do not attempt to fight a vengeful spirit. Immediately run away when you encounter a vengeful spirit. This might give you a chance to survive.]
The hint given by the app with the eye icon in this dungeon varied depending on the Player's specific strength. For example, the hint Asuna Yuuki received was to avoid fighting a vengeful spirit as much as possible, because before she obtained an effective weapon against a vengeful spirit, she couldn't truly eliminate a vengeful spirit with her ordinary rapier.
As for the hint given to Asagiri Utsunomiya, it was to finish the battle quickly and avoid being surrounded by multiple vengeful spirits.
Thinking about it the other way, this was also the app's assessment that, in a one-on-one situation, his current strength was enough to completely overwhelm an ordinary vengeful spirit inside this Hotel.
"Please, I beg you..."
"Shut up. Begging non-stop, are you a giant baby?"
Facing the tearful plea for help from the Woman with Heavy Makeup, Asagiri Utsunomiya first interrupted with a frown, then said unceremoniously, "You aren't thinking of hiding in a safe place yourselves and letting us solve the source of the strangeness in this Hotel, so you can survive, are you? I've already said it; there are only two paths before you: either fight to the death and become cannon fodder to scout the way forward, or you die now."
◆—⊰✧⊱—◆
In the end, the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup still made their choice and agreed to become the cannon fodder to scout the way forward.
Before entering the lower floor of the Hotel to begin exploring, Asuna Yuuki suggested resting for an hour. Her condition was quite good, but when Asagiri Utsunomiya captured the red-clothed vengeful spirit earlier, he summoned his Persona, and both his physical and mental strength were depleted. Although the depletion wasn't much, for the sake of caution, it was better to continue exploring after recovering to a completely peak state.
During the rest period, the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup were locked inside the innermost bedroom of the suite. These two had drunk the water from the Hotel and could explode like the red-clothed vengeful spirit at any time. To prevent this, such measures were taken.
And considering that Kotoko Iwanaga proactively took out and shared something as valuable as the staff guidebook, Asuna Yuuki also didn't hide anything. After consulting Asagiri Utsunomiya, she told Kotoko Iwanaga everything she and Asagiri Utsunomiya had experienced.
Of course, she definitely wouldn't mention Asagiri Utsunomiya's exclusive Talent, Persona. She simply glossed over the process of how the red-clothed vengeful spirit was captured.
After hearing their experiences, Kotoko Iwanaga analyzed, "Hmm... hearing you said that, you also came into contact with the water in the Hotel when you filled the bathtub, right? But I didn't feel any signs of you being invaded by any oddities. From this, it can be inferred that merely touching the water is fine, but you absolutely cannot let the water enter your body."
Asuna Yuuki first nodded, then pondered aloud, "So... as long as we don't let the water inside the Hotel enter our body, we can safely pass twelve hours... isn't that a bit too simple?"
At this point, Asagiri Utsunomiya, who was sitting on the sofa, said, "That's not simple at all. Didn't you feel it? Since we appeared, the temperature inside this Hotel has been rising."
"Huh, now that you mention it... it seems that's true." Asuna Yuuki first agreed, then muttered thoughtfully, "And it was fine on the seventh floor, but after returning to the twenty-second floor, it seems to have gotten hotter... Does the temperature get higher the higher the floor? Could it be that as time passes, the temperature inside the Hotel will keep rising, forcing Players to move towards the lower levels of the Hotel?"
Asagiri Utsunomiya replied casually, "Yes, the normal process should be like this: Players search floors, find rooms that can be opened, and there will be clues about water or something similar inside. The temperature rises, Players are forced to move downwards, encounter a vengeful spirit, escape, and then during the escape, they become dehydrated due to high temperature and physical exertion, and finally have to find a way to survive or something.
"After all, we've already obtained the information that the water is problematic, and the Earth-bound Spirit on the seventh floor has also been eliminated..."
Asuna Yuuki realized that although they entered the same dungeon, the Man in Suit and the Woman with Heavy Makeup who drank the water were completely not at the same level of Player as her and Asagiri Utsunomiya.
No, ultimately, she and Asagiri Utsunomiya couldn't even be considered Players of the same rank.
Ordinary Player: Playing hide-and-seek with the vengeful spirits, enduring the physical exhaustion and mental torment caused by dehydration. Once caught by a vengeful spirit, it's fighting to death, seeking a sliver of hope in despair.
High-end Player: Although unable to eliminate a vengeful spirit, they can forcefully break through the vengeful spirit's obstruction. As long as they haven't completely lost their combat ability, it's unlikely they'll be stopped by a single vengeful spirit, coming and going freely.
Cheating Player: Are you done crying? If you're done, I'm going to start interrogating you!
"Right, you can actually tell that those two were tainted by the oddities in this Hotel... It seems you have very strong abilities."
Hearing Asuna Yuuki's meaningful words, Kotoko Iwanaga first smiled faintly, then said in a relaxed tone, "To be honest, my talent is indeed most suitable for dungeons involving oddities. To tell you the truth, if I just wanted to complete the mission objective of this dungeon, it would be no difficulty at all for me, but there's something I want to confirm now."
Speaking of this, Kotoko Iwanaga looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya sitting there and asked, "What is your goal for entering this dungeon? It seems you are not satisfied with simply clearing it. Can you tell me your goal? If our goals are aligned, we can cooperate. What do you think?"
Asagiri Utsunomiya replied with a smile, "I think that's fine, Kotoko Iwanaga."
"Then... huh?" Just as she was halfway through speaking, Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly froze. She, who had always been calm and composed, suddenly became a little flustered. "Huh? You actually know me? Could it be... we've met before?"
"We haven't."
"That's true." Although she was exposed, Kotoko Iwanaga didn't show any panic or tension on her face. She just smiled sweetly, placed the white beret on her lap, looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya's face, and spoke in a gentle voice: "Someone with your appearance and demeanor, if we had met before, I would definitely have fallen in love with you at first sight and could never forget you."
Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's words, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but be stunned. 'Hmm? Love at first sight? What does that mean? This Kotoko Iwanaga... actually fell in love with Asagiri Utsunomiya at first sight?'