When Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga returned to the lobby together, they didn't see the clone of the Vengeful Spirit of the Drowned Corpse, which made the former breathe a sigh of relief.
Indeed, no matter what Kotoko Iwanaga's identity was in the real world, it was clear that she had very rich experience in dealing with oddities. In that situation, she immediately saw that the Vengeful Spirit of the Drowned Corpse fighting Hitoshura was not the true body.
Only by using an anti-spirit weapon to destroy the true body in the water tank could that the clone of the Vengeful Spirit of the Drowned Corpse be completely eliminated.
Just as Asuna Yuuki was slightly relaxing, she saw Asagiri Utsunomiya sitting there, leaning against the reception desk. She quickly ran up and asked with concern, "Asa... Captain! Are you okay?"
"I..." Asagiri Utsunomiya's voice was very faint, as if it could dissipate at any moment. His dark gray eyes, which usually held a cheerfulness, had lost their luster, and the pistol-shaped summoner lay quietly by his hand. "It seems, this is as far as I go..."
"How could that be..." Asuna Yuuki's face changed upon hearing this, and her face showed panic and helplessness as she said, "No... this is impossible... How could something like this happen, just hold on a little longer... I, I will never let you die!"
"Huh? What death?"
To Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga's surprise, Asagiri Utsunomiya suddenly asked with a smile and waved his hand. Then he said in a very relaxed tone, "You misunderstood. I'm far from dying."
Asuna Yuuki was stunned for a moment, then said, "Eh? Then why were you just now..."
"I just suddenly felt like saying that line." Asagiri Utsunomiya first said, then stood up from the ground, looked at the mess on the floor not far away, which had been corroded beyond recognition by the corrosive dark green liquid that burst from the clone of the Vengeful Spirit of the Drowned Corpse, and said solemnly, "Truly a strong opponent, I'm afraid I'll never forget you, Elastic Water Balloon."
Asuna Yuuki looked both angry and helpless upon hearing this, and she rolled her eyes as she complained, "What Elastic Water Balloon... If someone who didn't know heard that, they would think the enemy we just faced was some creature from a children's cartoon..."
After complaining like that, Asuna Yuuki turned her head, raised her hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes, and then turned back, stared at Asagiri Utsunomiya with a serious expression, and said with an incomparably earnest tone, "From now on, you are not allowed to make jokes like that again!"
"Okay." Asagiri Utsunomiya first replied with a carefree smile, then said thoughtfully, "Killing the hidden Boss outside the normal mission objective should be a bonus point in the evaluation, right? It seems this time, all three of us can get at least an S-minus or higher rating."
Asuna Yuuki took out her phone and glanced at the time, letting out a sigh of relief. Then she said, "Although it felt like a long time, it's only been less than three hours since we entered the dungeon until now..."
Just as Asuna Yuuki finished saying this, her, Asagiri Utsunomiya's, and Kotoko Iwanaga's phones sounded notifications simultaneously. They immediately checked and saw a string of text messages that read:
[You have eliminated all hostile vengeful spirits in this dungeon and uncovered the truth of the Hotel's bizarre events. You can choose to leave the dungeon at any time using the app function.]
And on Asagiri Utsunomiya's phone, there was an extra message:
[Your Persona Hitoshura has grown and unlocked a new characteristic.]
When Asagiri Utsunomiya checked Hitoshura's information in his Player panel, he found that, as expected, the information had changed compared to before.
[Hitoshura: Facing the fear of death head-on, this Persona born from your inner strength.
[Advantages: Strength, Defense, Resistance, Speed
[Disadvantages: No ranged attack methods
[Passive: When switching to this Persona, your physical abilities will be enhanced, and because Hitoshura represents unwavering determination, you will be immune to fear, confusion, hallucination, and other mental attacks.
[Characteristic: Reconstruction of the End
[Reconstruction of the End: Every time Hitoshura is destroyed in a battle, its base stats will grow, and its resistance to the corresponding attribute attacks will increase (no upper limit). You yourself will also gain the enhanced resistance provided by Hitoshura. Currently enhanced resistances: Corrosion, Curse
[Corresponding Tarot Card: The Emperor (Upright)]
Asagiri Utsunomiya already knew what Hitoshura's newly unlocked characteristic meant.
Simply put, every time it was destroyed, its resistance would increase, and the specific resistance that increased depended on the attribute of the attack that destroyed it.
For example, just now, it was melted by a corrosive liquid, which had both corrosion and curse attributes. The resistance gained was corresponding to these two attributes, and furthermore, the growth had no upper limit.
However, even without the app's notification, Asagiri Utsunomiya could feel that Hitoshura could only gain improvement through true battles like the one just now.
Trying to deliberately be destroyed to farm enhancements, like exploiting a bug, wouldn't work.
After reading it, Asagiri Utsunomiya handed his phone to Asuna Yuuki and Kotoko Iwanaga and said, "My Hitoshura has unlocked a new characteristic."
"New characteristic?" Asuna Yuuki asked, took the phone and, after reading it with Kotoko Iwanaga beside her, both of their expressions were somewhat filled with disbelief.
"Reconstruction of the End? Growth of base stats? Unlimited resistance increase? And it can share the enhanced resistance with you? This..." Asuna Yuuki said up to here, returned the phone to Asagiri Utsunomiya, and pursed her lips. Then her expression turned complex as she continued speaking, "Honestly... isn't this exclusive talent of yours, called Persona, a bit too strong? This is already at cheat level, isn't it?"
Upon hearing Asuna Yuuki's complaints, Asagiri Utsunomiya teased, "Oh, you know about cheats too?"
Asuna Yuuki rolled her eyes, annoyed. She said, "Didn't you say? Let me learn more about games, learn to put myself in the Player's shoes, and think about these dungeons from a game perspective. I'm not the kind of person who knows they need to learn but doesn't change because of laziness."
After saying this, Asuna Yuuki looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya, then at Kotoko Iwanaga, and couldn't help but mutter softly, "Sigh... both of you have unlocked exclusive Talents, only I haven't... Although most Players at this stage haven't unlocked either a job or a skill, being in a team with you two cheat-level Players, it's really hard not to feel a sense of disparity..."