Chapter 182: The Oppressive Human Armored Vehicle
Hearing that, Kato Megumi asked tentatively, "Is he a Mental Patient?"
The moment the question left her mouth, she noticed that Iwanaga Kotoko, Asagiri, and Yuuki Asuna were all looking at her with speechless expressions.
She froze for a second, then asked hesitantly, "Uh... why are you all looking at me like that?"
While Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko were still thinking about how to put it, Asagiri had already answered bluntly.
"He was gnawing on a human head right in front of us. How could he possibly be a normal person? Don't ask something that stupid. Your cute point isn't being naturally clueless."
"Oh. Right..."
Kato Megumi replied sheepishly, then immediately regained her composure. She switched states so quickly that it was hard to tell whether she had really been acting naive just now.
"Violet's attack hit his head, but it still didn't kill him outright. Was it because the damaged area wasn't large enough? Or because her weapon lacks the special property needed to completely eliminate spiritual bodies?"
Yuuki Asuna's rapier, Gleaming Light, greatly amplified the power of sword skills, but unlike the Exorcist Longsword, it did not possess the special property of erasing spiritual bodies or strange entities.
Still, because they usually had Iwanaga Kotoko and Asagiri with them, Yuuki Asuna rarely needed to deliver the finishing blow against supernatural enemies. Even in a bizarre Dungeon like this one, where all the enemies were strange entities, she could switch back to the Exorcist Longsword at any time.
"Let's put aside the question of whether it was really killed for now."
Asagiri shook his head and said flatly, "Through Human Asura, I could feel that although that thing looked skinny, it possessed terrifying strength, already close to Human Asura's own. If Human Asura had been alone just now, suppressing it would have been difficult."
"Hmm..."
Iwanaga Kotoko raised a hand and adjusted her beret. To conserve mental energy, she dispersed the humanoid form made from Black Particles, then said thoughtfully, "I just tried sensing it. That man was definitely an Anomaly, but his aura was a little different. Hmm... Leader, just like that Mountain God you saw before, it seems to be bound to this area."
Yuuki Asuna pursed her lips, her tone growing cautious. "Is it... the kind of earthbound spirit people talk about in legends?"
"Earthbound spirit? No, no, no. Not even close."
After hearing the question, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately corrected her with a serious expression.
"Most earthbound spirits are very weak. They can't directly touch human bodies, let alone harm anyone. Even those with especially strong resentment can at most jump out to scare someone, make them stumble, that kind of thing. They're called 'Spirits' precisely because they're weak. But that thing just now could already be called an anomaly.'"
"'Spirits' and Anomaly... is there really an essential difference...?"
As the topic continued, Yuuki Asuna unconsciously edged closer to Asagiri, and her voice even trembled a little.
"Look at how timid you are."
Iwanaga Kotoko looked disappointed, but only for a moment. Then she began explaining again.
"So-called 'Spirits' are strange existences that exist outside the normal world. Under certain special circumstances, humans may be able to perceive them. 'Special circumstances' means things like entering the territory of an earthbound spirit or touching an object tainted by a Spirit's obsession. But 'Ghosts' are different. Anomaly possess enough power to directly harm or even kill humans."
"So that's how it is."
After listening to her explanation, Yuuki Asuna nodded.
She finally understood. What she feared wasn't Anomaly, but Spirits, those vague, flickering, ghost-like things.
In other words, as long as an enemy could show up with an HP bar, she wouldn't be afraid.
"But there's one thing I still don't understand."
Iwanaga Kotoko's mind raced as she murmured, "In your novice Dungeon, that blood-faced orderly, Hoder Franklin, didn't show any malice toward you two as humans. That doesn't fit the image of an Anomaly at all. But at the same time, he also wasn't some blurry, intangible spirit body... This is really strange..."
"Let's investigate the strangest part first."
Asagiri walked over to the metal pot and lifted the lid again. Inside was still that half-cooked, rotting human head.
"The head that evil ghost was holding disappeared when it vanished, but the head inside the container is still the same one. It's just like..."
"An endless loop?"
Kato Megumi pursed her lips, and a trace of worry appeared in her eyes.
"If it really is a loop, then doesn't that mean..."
Before she could finish, Iwanaga Kotoko suddenly spoke.
"Something strange is approaching again. Judging from the aura, it's the same one as before."
"As expected."
Asagiri answered flatly, then walked to the rear kitchen entrance. When the kitchen door was kicked open once more, he looked at the emaciated man outside, who was still holding a human head and now appeared visibly startled by seeing him, then smiled faintly.
"Surprised?"
In the next instant, the Rope Dart in Asagiri's hand shot forward and pierced straight through the man's head.
This time, it did not even get the chance to say its opening lines or perform its usual head-gnawing entrance. It simply burst into dark red blood on the spot.
The whole thing looked exactly like a Player skipping a boss's intro animation by attacking during the spawn sequence.
"Solved."
"It really is an endless loop. And judging from that guy's expression, he doesn't even seem aware of it himself."
Iwanaga Kotoko walked over to Asagiri's side, observing the room outside as she continued her analysis.
"This can no longer be explained as just an individual strange entity. I've encountered this kind of phenomenon before. Perhaps this Kyozan Mental Hospital itself is an anomaly existence."
"The hospital itself is an anomaly existence?"
"Yes."
Iwanaga Kotoko followed Asagiri outside, walking carefully as she explained.
"You've probably heard of stories like this before, haven't you? A certain house being haunted, or a certain area that traps anyone who enters it. Most of those rumors are fake, but a tiny number are real. In those cases, the entire area itself has become the source of anomalies for some reason. The banshees and spirits inside are only manifestations of that strangeness. The true source is the place itself."
Hearing that, Kato Megumi asked curiously, "Then what causes that kind of phenomenon?"
"There are many possibilities. Rumors spreading among people, public discussion, being built on a mass grave or ancient battlefield and then assimilated by the resentment there, and so on. Without more clues, there's no way to reach a conclusion."
After Iwanaga Kotoko finished, Asagiri immediately added his own thoughts.
"From a game perspective, that thing just now wasn't especially strong. Ordinary Players might not be able to kill it, but escaping from it shouldn't be hard. This was probably the first test of the Dungeon, throwing Players into a tense state right away, then forcing them to start searching for a way out."
Both Asagiri and Iwanaga Kotoko were good at analysis, but their thought processes were completely different.
Iwanaga Kotoko approached everything from the perspective of a detective, peeling back layers of clues to uncover the truth beneath them.
Asagiri, on the other hand, thought from the perspective of Players and the system. He considered the purpose behind the Dungeon's design, what abilities the system wanted to test, and what dangers that implied would come next.
This Dungeon was different from the ones before it. From the moment they entered until that emaciated ghost broke into the room, not even a minute had passed.
Even the previous Abyss Man Dungeon hadn't put Players under this much pressure right from the start.
"It's too dark..."
The moment they stepped into the main hall outside, the vision of all four of them was swallowed by darkness.
For some reason, even though the back room had no proper light source either, the hall outside was even darker. They could not clearly make out what surrounded them. There seemed to be furniture and metal cabinets, but the vague outlines also resembled restless ghostly shadows.
Yuuki Asuna pursed her lips. Tension showed in her eyes.
Just as she was about to speak, Asagiri said softly, "Shh. Quiet."
A few seconds later, an odd sound broke the dead silence in the darkness.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The ground trembled faintly with each step, as though someone were hammering against the walls with a heavy mallet.
But the more they listened, the more it felt less like hammering and more like the footsteps of some monstrous creature.
"Hoo... hoo..."
The footsteps stopped not far from the four of them. Then came a muffled, rasping sound like a bellows drawing breath.
Even though they still couldn't clearly see the thing making that sound, just from the heavy footsteps and those breaths alone, the four of them were already certain of one thing.
Whatever it was, it was definitely not human.
Click.
A light suddenly flared to life in the hall.
On the far side, a tall, burly man in a judo uniform, nearly one point nine meters tall, slowly placed a small electric lamp on the ground. That sudden light finally allowed Asagiri and the others to see the true source of the breathing.
It was a giant bald man, at least two point zero five meters tall.
The muscles in his arms bulged grotesquely, veins writhing across them like worms. His belly was huge, and his entire build was so massive it had already gone beyond anything a normal human body should possess. Even his skin had turned a bizarre dark purple.
He stood there silently in the middle of the hall.
"Hmm? Other Players?"
The man in the judo uniform saw Asagiri and the others standing there. He frowned and spoke in an unfriendly tone.
"I don't need your help. Don't get in my way. If you cause trouble, I'll kill you too."
The moment they saw the bald monster like a mountain of flesh, both Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna immediately recalled the name they had seen in the novice Dungeon.
Project 136: Chris Walker. Codename: Human Armored Vehicle.
Bloodthirsty. Possesses terrifying destructive power. Skin as tough as armor plating. Extremely dangerous.
And that...
had only been the description of him when he was still human.
TL: Check out my newly released fanfic:
Transmigrated into The Legendary Mechanic
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