Tightly holding the girl's soft, warm hand, Fumiya Jin led her in a quick sweep of the suite. The bathroom, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the storage room... all were empty. There was no sign of any other players.
Of course, the seductive voices made a few more attempts to lure them during this time, but thanks to the pair's caution, they had no effect. In short, after confirming there was nothing of note in the suite, the two headed to the entryway, preparing to leave.
However, the moment they reached the entryway, a foul, fishy stench assaulted their nostrils... It seemed to be seeping in from outside, through the crack under the door. At the same time, a slight vibration traveled up from their feet.
"Thud... thud... thud..." They could faintly hear extremely heavy footsteps coming from outside the door. The vibrations in the floor alone were enough to tell that the weight behind those steps was far beyond what a normal human could produce.
Fumiya Jin turned back and made a "shushing" gesture to Kei Shirogane. Kei Shirogane immediately nodded. Standing in the entryway, the two paused, slowed their breathing, and listened carefully to the sounds outside.
They then heard the heavy footsteps in the hallway grow louder, as if they were approaching their door.
"Thud... thud... thud! Thud! Thud!"
It was right outside the door! The vibrations from the floor under their feet grew more pronounced. Kei Shirogane's face paled slightly. She raised her left hand to cover her mouth, terrified of making a sound. Fumiya Jin watched the door vigilantly.
It was a very sturdy, stainless steel security door, and it should have been securely locked. Logically, a door like this would be difficult to break down with brute force, but Fumiya Jin didn't let his guard down, ready at any moment to release the girl's hand and summon his blade.
One second... Two seconds... Three seconds...
"Thud... thud..." The footsteps outside started moving again. It seemed to be leaving. Fumiya Jin and Kei felt a glimmer of joy, but they didn't celebrate prematurely. They both kept their breathing under control, trying their best not to make a sound.
But just then... a voice came from the direction of the living room.
"Zako Fumiya-san, are you leaving just like that?"
"I even wore such a pretty outfit for you, and you won't even turn around to look? Don't tell me you're scared?"
"Big brother, don't tell me you can't get it up? You're not going soft, are you?"
"Hoh hoh hoh, how pathetic, Fumiya-san. You don't even have the guts to pounce on me. Zako, zako~"
This signature Bratty Imp line, of course, belonged to Yuki Suou. Hearing this, Kei Shirogane's expression turned a little strange—what on earth was this... Fumiya Jin, however, didn't even need to turn around to know it was an illusion of Yuki Suou.
He hadn't paid any mind when the fake Nijika had thrown herself into his arms earlier. Now that this one was just shouting from a distance in the living room, he was, of course, even less concerned. However, the sound suddenly made him realize something was wrong.
This sound made by the apparition... everyone can hear it, right?
Fumiya Jin's expression changed, and he pulled Kei Shirogane back several steps.
"Eeeeyaaaaaa!—" An extremely sharp and piercing shriek suddenly came from outside the door. Kei Shirogane felt as if countless sharp steel needles had suddenly plunged into her head. Her mind went blank, and her entire body was instantly paralyzed, unable to move.
The next second, her uncontrolled body fell backward, crashing into Fumiya Jin and bringing him down to the ground with her...
"BANG!—" A tremendous pounding sound on the door followed. On the seemingly indestructible stainless steel security door, a fist-sized dent had appeared. It had been smashed in by immense force!
"Hah... hah..." About three seconds after hitting the ground, Kei Shirogane finally felt the numbness in her body begin to recede. She looked in horror at the terrifying dent on the security door, then turned to look at Fumiya Jin behind her, "Fumiya-san..."
Then she suddenly noticed that Fumiya Jin wore an expression of extreme pain and extreme restraint... and from his left ear, blood was slowly seeping out, dripping down...
"Eh, eh, eh? Fumiya-san? Wh... what's wrong with you?"
Fumiya Jin didn't respond. Or rather, he was completely unable to respond immediately. About another second passed...
"Hah..." He finally regained his mobility, taking a deep breath and thinking to himself that the debuff for high-level players, "greatly increased damage from psychic attacks," was a real pain in the ass.
Just now, he and Kei Shirogane had heard the same shriek. It was clearly some kind of psychic attack skill that used sound waves as a medium. If what Kei Shirogane felt was like a hundred sharp needles piercing her brain... ...then the intensity of the attack Fumiya Jin felt was like an ocean made of steel spikes suddenly creating a tsunami, with waves tens of meters high crashing down on him.
The intensity of the attacks wasn't even in the same league. So, even though Fumiya Jin's mental resistance was much stronger than Kei Shirogane's, the actual control effect he suffered was still more severe. He even felt... that he had temporarily lost hearing in his left ear...
"BOOM!—" Another loud crash. A new dent, the size of a head, appeared on the security door. This time, the entire door panel had begun to deform, and the door frame was starting to separate from the door. The door's hinges groaned, clearly on the verge of giving way.
Fumiya Jin immediately set Kei Shirogane down from his arms. "Get back." Then he stood up, a white tachi materializing in his hand... Facing the nearly demolished security door, he began to charge his attack.
"So cool!"
Kei Shirogane stared blankly at Fumiya Jin. Seeing the tachi, two words suddenly escaped her lips. Only after speaking did she quickly raise her small hand to cover her mouth, surprised at why she had blurted that out...
"BOOM!—"
Another deafening crash. The upper right section of the security door was now starting to bend inward. They could faintly see a massive, mountain-like black shadow looming over the entire door from the outside...
A faint glimmer finally flashed across the tachi in Fumiya Jin's hand. 1.0 charge complete.
But Fumiya Jin still had a bad feeling. Against such a huge monster, the damage from a 1.0 charge probably wouldn't be enough to kill it...
"Aaaah! The... the head fell off! Aaaah!" Just then, an extremely high-pitched and sharp scream suddenly echoed from what seemed to be downstairs.
The monster outside abruptly stopped its assault on the door. And then... "Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud..." As if it had found more worthy prey to tear apart. It quickly ran off down the side of the hallway. The heavy footsteps rapidly faded into the distance.
_____
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