"This thing probably can't talk. Continuing to torment it is just a waste of time."
Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly said that.
Hearing this, Asuna Yuuki couldn't help but ask curiously, "How are you so sure?"
"Of course, I'm an expert in this regard," Kotoko Iwanaga replied while raising her staff and pointing it at the female specter held by Asuna Yuuki, who had first taken a slap from Asagiri Utsunomiya and then been hit by a baseball bat by Cap-Wearing Mita, yet the malice in her eyes hadn't diminished in the slightest.
Kotoko Iwanaga said lightly, "Although this thing belongs to the category of oddities, unlike the spirits and specters we've encountered, it's not an oddity formed from a deceased person, but rather... hmm, how should I describe it?"
Pausing here, Kotoko Iwanaga organized her words with a thoughtful expression and remained silent for a while. Then finally she said, "Simply put, it should be a type of paranormal phenomenon, born from certain people's thoughts in an area completely invaded by oddity. It has no sentience, only acts according to pure resentment, and is something that cannot be communicated with.
"It's just that due to certain reasons, it appeared in this human-like form, but it was never human, just like the water contaminated by oddity in that Haunted Hotel dungeon."
After Kotoko Iwanaga finished explaining, Asagiri Utsunomiya nodded and said noncommittally, "Oh, I see."
In the next second, the Vampiric Chain Dagger appeared in his hand, and Asagiri Utsunomiya directly stabbed the sharp tip into the female specter's forehead while saying, "Since that's the case, just give me some mental energy."
Watching the female specter's body dissipate into a cloud of black mist, Megumi Kato twirled the Ominous Dagger in her hand, looked at Kotoko Iwanaga, and asked, "Is there any way to get through the corridor outside?"
Kotoko Iwanaga replied thoughtfully, "It seems we can only force our way through. But, we don't know where the source of the oddity is, and from the situation just now, there is an oddity in every oil painting hanging in the corridor. Not only are there many of them, but their power is also not weak. If we force our way through... the risk is too high."
Megumi Kato pursed her lips and asked tentatively, "Could it be... that the difficulty of the second phase dungeon is all this high? Or is this dungeon just special?"
Asuna Yuuki frowned tightly, thinking hard, a look of conflict in her eyes. Then she said, "We don't know the objective for clearing the dungeon, and there are no public hints. In this situation, there's actually such a terrifying corridor full of specters... How exactly can we clear this dungeon?"
Just when everyone felt at a loss and didn't know what to do, Asagiri Utsunomiya walked to the living room door, grabbed the doorknob, and spoke in a calm tone.
"Based on our team's strength, if a stage appears that even we aren't confident in passing, it means that the appearance of this stage was originally not meant for Players to pass, and..."
Pausing here, Asagiri Utsunomiya opened the living room door. Outside was still the corridor full of oil paintings, but the paintings that had originally fallen to the ground were now rehung on the walls on both sides.
He pointed to the oil painting closest to the door and continued lightly: "Why did the warning appear only after Necro walked out ten meters? There was clearly an oddity in the very first oil painting, so why wasn't there a warning from the beginning? In other words, why is there a ten-meter safe distance in this corridor? What is this ten-meter safe distance for?"
"You mean..." Kotoko Iwanaga muttered, seemingly having thought of something, then spoke to Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and Cap-Wearing Mita: "Everyone, come out."
After everyone came out and stood in the corridor, Asagiri Utsunomiya closed the door leading to the living room again. However, he didn't turn around and walk towards the depths of the corridor, but instead opened the door in front of them again.
*Bzzzt, bzzzt!* Accompanied by this buzzing sound, sounded like a TV experiencing signal interference, what appeared before their eyes was no longer the cozy apartment where Cap-Wearing Mita lived, but a living room with a similar structure but exceptionally dim, with walls covered in the words I LoVe U, big and small, written in what looked like blood-red paint, making people feel uneasy and eerie.
"So that's it..." Kotoko Iwanaga muttered while observing the living room inside the door and sensing if there was any trace of an oddity. Then she said, "Is it only by walking into the corridor, closing the door, and then reopening it that we can reach this place... No wonder there's a ten-meter safe distance and the warning about the oil paintings falling to the ground and shattering. It turns out it was reminding us that the path ahead is a dead end."
Hearing this, Megumi Kato asked curiously, "Since there was a reminder, does that mean that although the app can't be opened, the difficulty of this dungeon is still within an acceptable range, and it's not a dead end with no hope of clearing?"
Asuna Yuuki nodded firmly while saying, "That must be the case. Since the app provided us with the option to enter this dungeon, it can't be a dead end."
Soon after, she added, "Moreover, the app has actually given us a hint."
"A hint?" Megumi Kato asked.
"Yes, the lack of hints and the inability to open the app are actually a type of hint."
Pausing here, Asuna Yuuki looked at Cap-Wearing Mita who was still swaying there and continued lightly: "Although we haven't seen the Mita with the twin ponytail hairstyle yet, based on the information provided by Mita-san here, all Mitas are characters with pre-programmed settings within the game. Combining this with the bizarre phenomena we encountered before entering the dungeon, and the fact that the app on our phones cannot be opened after entering the dungeon, the Mita with the twin ponytail hairstyle must possess the ability to interfere with our phones in some way, perhaps even directly blocking the function of the app on our phones."
"So that's how it is..." Megumi Kato replied while nodding as if she understood but not completely, her eyes flickering as she appeared to be thinking about something. Only after a few seconds did she look up, exchange a glance with Asagiri Utsunomiya, and say softly, "But, according to Mita-san here, only Captain's real name was exposed, so..."
Megumi Kato suddenly stopped, only looking towards Asagiri Utsunomiya. After seeing him nod, she immediately understood and said, "Okay, let's stop the analysis here."
Listening to their discussion, Kotoko Iwanaga, who had been observing inside the door, spoke softly: "I roughly sensed it, and there's no trace of an oddity in this room. However, we can't be careless. After all, I can only sense oddities; I can't sense other types of enemies. In any case, let's go in first."
It was the same formation: Asuna Yuuki walked at the very front, Kotoko Iwanaga and Megumi Kato followed behind her, while Asagiri Utsunomiya walked alongside Cap-Wearing Mita at the back. This wasn't to create opportunities for the two of them or anything; it was because Asagiri Utsunomiya was the strongest, and if Cap-Wearing Mita tried any little tricks, he could detect her immediately.
After entering the room and closing the door, the few of them did a rough search and found that aside from the dimness and the strange blood-red letters on the walls, the furniture arrangement in this room was similar to Cap-Wearing Mita's room, just missing items that represented her personal attributes, such as an electric guitar.
"Huh? How could this be..."
Hearing Cap-Wearing Mita's confused murmur, Asagiri Utsunomiya asked, "What's wrong? Is there anything unusual?"
"It shouldn't be like this..." Cap-Wearing Mita said with a cute expression of confusion, even stopping her habitual shoulder-swaying motion. Then she continued: "Logically speaking, there should be a corresponding Mita in each room. There won't be two Mitas, but there also won't be no corresponding Mita. Looking at the furnishings in this room, it's definitely Mita's home, but here... why isn't there a Mita?"
Asuna Yuuki asked tentatively, "Is it possible that she went somewhere else?"
"Probably not," Cap-Wearing Mita replied while shaking her head, then and moved a little closer to Asagiri Utsunomiya and said, "Before meeting Player, I never had any thoughts of leaving. After all, the duty of us Mitas is to wait for the arrival of Players. This kind of situation is unlikely to happen."
"In other words, the Mita who should have been in this room violated the program's setting and left on her own..." Asuna Yuuki murmured.
Hearing this, the same conjecture surfaced in the minds of both Megumi Kato and Kotoko Iwanaga.
Could the owner of this room be that Mita with the twin ponytail hairstyle who was clearly not mentally normal?
Just then, a faint sound suddenly echoed within the room.
*Thump... thump... thump...*
Asuna Yuuki's expression changed, and she immediately took out her Exorcist Longsword and held it. After listening carefully for a while, she frowned slightly and said, "The direction of this sound seems to be coming from the bedroom."
"I'll go take a look."
Megumi Kato volunteered, immediately activated her Talent, Low Presence, and then walked towards the bedroom.
After observing carefully, she turned her head and looked at Asagiri Utsunomiya and the others.
"There shouldn't be any danger. The sound is coming from inside the wardrobe."
Hearing Megumi Kato say this, Asuna Yuuki echoed in confusion, "Wardrobe?"
Afterwards, Asuna Yuuki entered the bedroom.
Indeed, just as Megumi Kato had said, there seemed to be something inside the wardrobe, emitting a slight vibrating sound.
"Let's get ready to open the door," Asagiri Utsunomiya said.
"Okay," Megumi Kato replied, then walked to the side of the wardrobe and gently placed a hand on the metal handle of the wardrobe.
Kotoko Iwanaga and Asuna Yuuki weren't idle either. One of them stared intently at the wardrobe, preparing to activate her skill, Gaze of Curses, while the other held her Exorcist Longsword, ready to thrust it out at any moment.
Asagiri Utsunomiya was the most exaggerated. He took out his sniper rifle, immediately disengaged the safety, raised it, placed his index finger on the trigger, and aimed it towards the wardrobe. As long as a monster or something similar jumped out, he would immediately let the other party taste what Carbon-Based Life Form Cooling Device felt like.
However, when Megumi Kato pulled open the right half of the wardrobe door from the side, what appeared before everyone was not an enemy or creature, but a deep gray metal door hidden deep inside the wardrobe.
"This is... a secret passage?"