Five minutes later, on the first floor of the Hotel, in the front desk reception hall.
The floor paved with smooth marble tiles could even reflect a clear reflection under the light of the huge crystal chandelier. The hall was empty, and there were no reception staff at the front desk. Only a telephone receiver connected to a landline was slightly swaying in the air, emitting a beeping busy signal. Other than that, there was no sound, the silence so profound it was chilling.
Just then, a loud sound suddenly came from above the lobby.
*Ka-Boom!!!*
A humanoid black figure, over two meters tall with red patterns glowing on its body, plummeted from a height of nearly ten meters. The moment it hit the ground, cracks spread across the surrounding hard marble tiles, accompanied by a trembling roar.
*Crash!!!*
Amidst the scattered debris, a jovial voice rang out: "How about that? Didn't I say this is the quickest shortcut, where we won't encounter any enemies?"
Kotoko Iwanaga jumped down from Hitoshura's shoulder, landing lightly on the ground. She didn't seem flustered at all, and even tidied her clothes first, then raised a hand to adjust her white beret before replying, "That guy probably didn't expect us to neither use the stairs nor the elevator, but instead directly smash through the ground from the fifth floor."
Seeing Asagiri Utsunomiya immediately dispel Hitoshura after landing, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but purse her lips, looking slightly worried. She said, "We certainly didn't encounter any obstacles, but... Summoning Persona consumes a lot of mental and physical strength, doesn't it? And you even smashed through four floors in a row, plus the buffer when landing... Are you okay right now?"
"Completely fine." Asagiri Utsunomiya first replied with a smile, then typed a line of text on his phone, flipped it over, and showed it to Kotoko Iwanaga and Asuna Yuuki.
[A little tired, used about thirty percent of my stamina. Mental power is fine. Don't talk about this. If that guy can hear us, it might seize this opportunity to attack. Pretend everything is normal and try to buy me some more time to rest.]
Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga nodded upon seeing this, indicating they understood.
Asagiri Utsunomiya had no intention of acting tough or cool. After all, this was a dungeon, an extremely dangerous bizarre dungeon where two Players had already died, not a game of make-believe. Deliberately hiding his condition would only mislead his teammates' judgment of the situation, which could be fatal.
"Let's go to the reception area first. Didn't the special hint say so? There, we can get valuable information."
Although Asuna Yuuki was somewhat worried about Asagiri Utsunomiya's condition, there was no other way. If they were to go down the stairs through the normal route, not to mention how many vengeful spirits they might encounter, fighting on a narrow staircase could easily result in an accident and would also drain the stamina and mental strength of all three of them.
In comparison, smashing through the floors and descending directly was indeed the most reliable option.
As she walked towards the reception area not far away, which was the Hotel front desk, Asuna Yuuki had already gripped the handle of the Exorcist Longsword in her hand. She expended a small amount of mental strength to apply her skill, Wind Protection, which could make her body lighter. At the same time, she walked in the front, ensuring that if a vengeful spirit suddenly sprang out from there, she could block it immediately.
Fortunately, no terrifying vengeful spirits suddenly jumped out.
Asuna Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief, but just to be safe, she still held the handle of the Exorcist Longsword tightly in her hand and, together with Asagiri Utsunomiya and Kotoko Iwanaga, began searching for the so-called valuable information mentioned in the special hint.
"Guest registration form... employee ID... sanitation certificate... these are useless."
Just as Kotoko Iwanaga and Asuna Yuuki couldn't find anything valuable, Asagiri Utsunomiya picked up a newspaper.
"Valuable information, found it."
"You found it already? Let me see..."
Asuna Yuuki leaned over to take a look and found that most of the newspaper was stained with inexplicable black marks, making the content completely indistinguishable. Only one section remained, containing a news report.
"Mount Massive Asylum Riot Incident... Mount Massive Asylum? Isn't that our novice dungeon?" Asuna Yuuki first muttered, then looked up at Asagiri Utsunomiya, puzzled. She asked, "This... An out-of-control riot incident involving patients occurred at Mount Massive Asylum. We pretty much guessed that already, didn't we? After all, the plot in that game was roughly like that. This doesn't count as valuable information, right?"
"No. The so-called valuable information isn't about the incident itself." Asagiri Utsunomiya first replied while shaking his head, then explained with a calm tone, "The news about Mount Massive Asylum appearing in this Hotel's newspaper proves that the location of this dungeon and the location of our previous novice dungeon are from the same world.
"Moreover, both of these dungeons are of the oddity-type. Since the app gave a special hint saying this is valuable information, it can't be a simple coincidence. For now, we can assume that all the oddity-type dungeons arranged by the Survival Game are located in a certain place in this world, and this world... let's call it the World of Oddity."
"World of Oddity..." Asuna Yuuki murmured, her curiosity piqued. She couldn't help but ask: "Then, knowing this information, what can we do?"
"Nothing." Asagiri Utsunomiya's answer was unexpected for Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga.
Soon after, he explained, "Although it's interesting, this information is temporarily useless. It seems it only provides us with the satisfaction of uncovering part of the truth as Players."
"Satisfaction... huh?" Asuna Yuuki sighed, shaking her head slightly helplessly. "Compared to this kind of thing, I'd rather have something like the Exorcist Longsword, something that can provide substantial help in clearing the dungeon..."
When Kotoko Iwanaga heard this, just as she was about to say something, she suddenly sensed a presence of oddity. The smile on her face instantly disappeared, and her expression became serious.
"Wait, something... is approaching."
As her voice fell, a strange sound, like a mixture of footsteps and dripping water, a *pitter-patter*, broke the silence in the Hotel lobby.