For Tanaka, known to many as "Old Ghost Tanaka," he had never imagined that one day he would stumble so badly—at the hands of such a young brat, no less.
[Thud!]
Takumi, still shouting about saving him, threw another punch that broke Tanaka's nasal bridge on the spot, flattening his entire nose.
[It's all right. You're badly hurt, but don't worry—I'll get you out of here.]
Takumi spoke to him with heartfelt concern, then clenched his fist and delivered another punch.
[Please don't worry. I'm here now. You'll be fine.]
Takumi's voice brimmed with sincerity, and so did his fists—with such realism that Tanaka's eye socket on one side split open, his eyeball flooding with blood.
[Come with me. I'll protect you.]
With that voice full of emotion, Takumi's fist came down again on Tanaka's head, nearly knocking him unconscious, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.
He couldn't break free.
Now that Takumi had been nearly fully transformed into an anomaly, his physical capabilities had completely surpassed the limits of humankind. Against him, even with Tanaka's physique—far beyond that of an ordinary man—he was as helpless as a child.
[Thud!]
Under Takumi's overwhelmingly heavy strength, Tanaka's face, just like that woman's before, was beaten into a bloody mess.
If this kept up, he would be beaten to death on the spot.
Tanaka tried to cry out in pain, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Takumi slapped him hard across the face, and the few remaining teeth in his mouth shattered and flew out.
"Bas…tard…"
In a daze, his face covered in blood, Tanaka finally caught an opening. With great effort, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a small vial, yanked off the cap, and flung the powder inside toward Takumi.
The next instant, Takumi jerked backward as if struck by lightning; his movements froze for a brief moment. Tanaka rolled across the floor, scrambled to his feet in disarray, hesitated for a second, then gritted his teeth and scattered more of the powder in Takumi's direction.
It was an eerie type of ashes powder—a highly valuable Obsession Item that could temporarily suppress the process of a corpse turning into an anomaly. It also worked to a limited extent on living people undergoing transformation, though its effect was very slight, and against a true anomaly it was completely useless.
For players of the Sacrifice Game, this special ashes powder was extremely important. In that blood-soaked game woven with rule-based Horror Stories, the dead rarely found peace—they were often transformed into subordinate entities of anomalies or mediums for activation. Thus, items capable of suppressing corpse transformation were exceptionally precious in the game's instances, especially in the extremely dangerous, high-level ones currently "Fixed," such as the Dusk-level and Red Moon-level games. In these high-mortality dungeons, where total party annihilation was common and all participants were veteran players carrying Obsession Items, ashes powder was indispensable.
This was not something to be squandered casually. Precisely because of its rarity, top-tier veteran players always had great demand for ashes powder. But Tanaka—known for his terrible reputation and for frequently attacking other players—was widely disliked. Many player-run shops refused to sell him anything, and the few supply channels he could find were unregulated, with sky-high prices and unreliable quality.
But now, to survive, he could no longer care about any of that.
And as it turned out, Tanaka's decision was the right one. The ashes he had scattered earlier had managed to stop Takumi for barely three seconds; without the second wave of ashes, he would have been instantly grabbed by Takumi as he charged forward.
He had to escape quickly—get away from that anomaly, find a way to get back to the second floor, and use the wall clock for a recall.
Being tripped up by a dying brat, losing the Faceless Human Head—the Obsession Item most effective against living people—was a devastating loss for Tanaka. He had to find a way to make up for it, to recover that loss no matter what!
Thinking this, Tanaka staggered and stumbled as he fled, pulling a wooden puppet from his pocket and tossing it out. The puppet instantly expanded into a corpse whose joints had been forcibly replaced with wooden structures. It reached out its arms and grabbed Takumi from behind, restraining him and halting his pursuit.
[Slash—]
The next instant, Takumi's sharp scalpel sliced cleanly through the puppet's fleshy wooden hands.
He resumed chasing after Tanaka, though his movements had yet to return to full speed.
The ground beneath his feet seemed to be turning little by little into a swamp.
Looking down, Takumi saw one rotting flesh puppet after another reaching out from the muddy ground, grabbing his legs and trying to drag him down.
There was no way to break free.
Takumi struggled with all his might to move forward, yet still couldn't escape their pull.
He didn't know if he had managed to force out all of Tanaka's trump cards.
To kill him successfully in the next cycle and eliminate this massive threat, he had to draw out all of his tricks before this version of himself died—he had to figure out every one of his tactics.
[But now, that guy…]
[I… rescue team… I'm… Tak… I'm…]
His will, already pushed to the limit, was beginning to collapse. No matter how strong Takumi's spirit was, it couldn't change the fact that he was already at his breaking point.
Ahead, Tanaka had stopped moving.
He hadn't run very far; in fact, he stopped still within Takumi's line of sight. Then, pulling out a small dark-red key, he directly inserted it into one of the doors in this distorted area and opened it.
Beyond that opened door, Takumi saw the second-floor corridor.
He was heading to the second floor—the floor where Maki and the others were!
"Ah… oh…"
He could no longer produce a normal sound.
Takumi forced himself forward, dragging along one flesh puppet after another as he drew closer.
No, it wasn't enough—he couldn't catch up like this.
With just his own strength, there was no way to reach that man.
[I am… the rescue team…]
[I… rescue team… I am…]
[Rescue… team… team…]
A large hand reached out from the side, grabbing Takumi by the shoulder and pulling him free from the mass of flesh puppets.
Several drenched figures, also clad in rescue suits, stood silently beside Takumi, moving forward with him.
'That's right, I am a member of the rescue team.'
'We hold each other's hands, move forward together, and save everyone who needs our help.'
'So we do not face danger alone—we act together, we move together.'
At this moment, Takumi's self-awareness was on the verge of vanishing completely.
In his haze, he didn't even know where he was anymore—he only repeated Tanaka's name as a target, over and over again in his mind, reminding himself to "save" that man, trying to hold onto his goal in this way so he wouldn't forget it.
It sounded like he heard something.
From the corridor on the second floor came a girl's startled cry, Tanaka's furious threats, and the sound of his own footsteps.
His vision suddenly sharpened.
On one side of the dimly lit second-floor corridor, Tanaka burst through the door of Room 208.
The door of Room 206 was already damaged, with messy bloodstains around it—it was clear that the people inside had fled in a hurry.
Faintly, Takumi seemed to glimpse Green's broken, fragmented face flickering in midair before vanishing again. It seemed that after the man's death, he had turned into an anomaly, forcing Kaguya and the others to escape from Room 206 to avoid it.
Where would they be now?
Takumi looked toward Room 208, where Tanaka had rushed inside.
Those loud, chaotic sounds—were they the sounds of a fight?
'I'm the rescue team… I have to go to the first floor…'
'I am… no… I am Takumi. That's right—I am Takumi…'
'I have to find them. I can't let that bastard keep hurting people. At least this time, I can't let her die before me…'
His step forward halted with difficulty.
Takumi slowly turned around and walked out from among the ranks of the rescue team.
His mind nearly split apart, his consciousness wavering between clarity and chaos, he stepped into the corridor of Room 208 and made his way toward the living room.
Kaguya, with one hand wrapped in bandages, and Maki were confronting Tanaka, who had barged in, while the frozen corpse from the kitchen had already stepped out, its dull expression fixed squarely on Takumi as he entered the room.
He couldn't make out who was speaking. The surrounding voices were indistinguishable.
He only seemed to see sparks flashing one after another, and to hear a man's desperate scream.
The noises around him grew even more chaotic.
All kinds of furniture were being torn apart, and cracks spread across the walls and floor.
Someone had come in with him, wearing the same uniform—right, they were with him. They were all there to save Tanaka. Yes, to save him.
It felt like something cold—something very, very cold—was interfering with him, and it was powerful; even with so many of them together, they couldn't subdue it.
[Rip—]
The rescue team badge on his shoulder was torn away.
His chaotic consciousness suddenly cleared again.
Takumi saw Tanaka, surrounded by several rescue team members, struggling desperately but unable to escape, sinking together with them into the water pooled on the floor, until they were completely submerged—only a small dark-red key remained, lying in the puddle.
The ice-covered corpse stood in the living room, stared at him for a while, then slowly turned around and walked back toward the kitchen.
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