Chapter 74: Hidden Rewards
About ten minutes later, just as Asagiri predicted, the four of them found a locked room that looked like an office. Inside were several items with special value, the same way the Exorcist Longsword had been placed in the last Hotel Dungeon. The moment they stepped in, the APP triggered prompts.
[[Field Emergency Medical Kit: A medical kit containing first aid supplies such as painkillers, bandages, disinfectant alcohol, skin staplers, gauze, and more.]]
[[Special Adrenaline: For ten minutes after use, the Player enters an excited state. Mental energy and stamina increase greatly, pain is significantly dulled, and the five senses are sharply enhanced. After the effect ends, the Player will fall into extreme exhaustion due to overexertion. If mental energy or stamina consumption is too high, there may be life threatening danger. Use with caution.]]
Everyone immediately understood the value of the first two items.
The Field Emergency Medical Kit was a lifesaver in the most literal sense. Even though none of them had suffered serious injuries yet, having proper supplies was a necessary safety net. You didn't need to use it for it to be worth carrying.
As for Special Adrenaline, it was clearly a trump card, the kind you saved for a true emergency.
However, compared to the final reward, those two felt like support items.
[[Sniper Rifle (Full magazine capacity, ten rounds): A police sniper rifle with a pure black body and a magazine capacity of ten rounds. Bullet caliber is 7.62mm. A heavy weapon with excellent accuracy and power.]]
"A sniper rifle…"
Kotoko, Asuna, and Megumi all stared at the weapon hanging on the wall. The rifle was entirely black, and it radiated a quiet intimidation that didn't belong in a hospital office.
Was something like this really supposed to appear at their current stage?
A sniper rifle wasn't like the soft fantasy guns in anime, where a character gets shot, coughs twice, delivers a speech, and then runs off to the next scene.
In the real world, a 7.62mm round didn't negotiate.
A human body was fragile in front of that spinning bullet. It wouldn't leave a neat little hole. It would tear flesh apart with brutal rotational force, sending blood and tissue flying. There was no need for a headshot. A leg would be ruined. An arm would be ruined. A hit to the abdomen could split someone open.
The weapon's value was unquestionable.
The only problem was…
"Does anyone here know how to use a sniper rifle?"
Under the three girls' expectant stares, Asagiri, who was sitting and catching his breath, answered with a helpless look.
"What do you think I am, some urban military ace? Even in the army, the number of snipers who can actually use one in real combat is small. How would I know how to run a sniper rifle? Don't be ridiculous."
"That's a shame," Asuna said, sounding genuinely regretful.
Asagiri laughed. "What's there to regret? If we can't aim from long range, we can still shoot from close range. Either way, we take it."
Asuna nodded, then asked the question that always mattered most after the danger passed.
"Then how do we split the items?"
Megumi kept her expression calm, but her stomach tightened.
Reward distribution was where teams broke apart. It happened even in online games. Here, where death was real, it was worse. Who wouldn't want every advantage for themselves? Who wouldn't prioritize their own survival?
And emotionally, she was the last one to join. If there was anyone who could be pushed aside, it would be her.
Just as that thought surfaced, Asagiri spoke, tone even.
"Give the field kit to Phantom. She can lower her presence, so she won't be the first target. It's safest if she carries it. The adrenaline and the sniper rifle go to me."
"Okay," Asuna agreed without hesitation.
Kotoko, who received nothing, showed no dissatisfaction at all. Neither did Asuna, despite also receiving nothing.
Megumi blinked, genuinely caught off guard.
"Um… maybe the kit should stay with you guys…"
Asuna shook her head, pressed the red package with the white cross into Megumi's hands, and smiled softly.
"We're a team. A team needs one decisive voice. I trust the Leader's call. It's the most reasonable option, and the best for everyone."
"But…"
Megumi still looked unsure, so Asuna put on an exaggerated, slightly annoyed face.
"If you don't take it, I'll start thinking you're treating me like one of those petty, jealous little girls."
She broke first, laughing at her own act, then leaned in with a warm, teasing smile.
"Don't be shy. If you really feel bad about it, then next time I get hurt, just bring the kit and patch me up fast."
Megumi's shoulders finally loosened.
"Okay. Thank you."
"Nothing to thank me for," Asuna said, waving it off. "We're comrades."
…
After leaving Inpatient Building One, they found the hospital had changed.
What had been empty earlier was now crawling with infected. They wandered in restless loops, their movements sharper, their heads snapping at faint sound.
"Roar…"
A few nearby infected noticed the four of them exiting the lobby. They turned, mouths opening with meaningless snarls, and rushed over at a pace that wasn't slow. Not a sprint, but a jog, like an ordinary person running.
Kotoko frowned slightly.
"Hmm? Just like the horde earlier. Fast moving normal infected… where did they come from this time…"
Asagiri, on the other hand, looked at Asuna as if this were a casual handoff.
"Violet. They're yours."
Asuna nodded. "Okay."
The Exorcist Longsword flashed. She moved with clean, decisive speed, leaving the infected no chance to get close. One after another, they fell, her strikes sharp and controlled. No hesitation, no wasted motion.
"Phantom, catch."
Megumi turned at Asagiri's call and caught the rapier he tossed her, confusion on her face.
"This is…"
"You clean up some too."
"Oh. Okay."
Megumi tightened her grip on the rapier. She swallowed, gathered her courage, activated her talent effect, and approached a normal infected.
Under her talent, it didn't notice her at all. It simply swayed in place, head jerking in small, meaningless motions.
"Swish!"
Megumi drove the rapier forward with everything she had. The tip plunged into the back of its skull.
When she yanked the blade free, the infected collapsed.
"Huff… huff…"
Megumi forced herself to breathe steadily, trying to calm the violent pounding in her chest.
Including the novice Dungeon, this was her third time entering one.
But this was her first real fight.
Asagiri and Kotoko didn't flinch no matter how bloody the scene became. They moved through horror like it was routine, like monsters wearing human faces. Asuna, even when nervous at first, had a competitiveness most people didn't. She refused to lose to the game, and she would fight even if the price was death.
Megumi couldn't match any of them yet.
So she had to train.
As long as her talent aura was active, these normal infected wouldn't detect her presence. That made them perfect practice targets, a way to force her hands and mind to accept what combat meant.
What would terrify ordinary Players, the infected you had to avoid and fear, posed no threat to Asuna or Megumi in this moment.
By the time they reached the lobby of Inpatient Building Two, Asuna finally exhaled.
She looked at Megumi, whose wrists still trembled faintly and whose face had gone pale with fatigue.
"Are you okay?"
Megumi nodded, voice quiet. "Yes. I'm fine."
She hadn't kept her talent active the whole way. At her current stage, she could only maintain it for about one minute while moving. Fighting with it active drained her even faster, both physically and mentally.
As she gained rhythm, she found the correct way to use her talent. Don't keep it on constantly. Don't waste it.
Wait until you're about to enter the enemy's line of sight. Activate. Close in. Kill. Turn it off immediately.
That reduced the consumption significantly.
More importantly, the fights revealed a weakness in her exclusive talent.
It only worked when the enemy hadn't noticed her yet.
It wasn't true invisibility. If the enemy had already locked onto her, lowering her presence further wouldn't erase their awareness.
Kotoko tapped the ground lightly with her cane, thinking.
"This Dungeon is really strange. The keyword is zombies, but at first it didn't feel like a typical apocalypse. Then normal infected suddenly started moving quickly." She paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "Is it because they were never the same type to begin with, or…"
Kotoko looked up.
Outside, the sky had dimmed. A heavy dusk was settling over the hospital grounds.
Her voice dropped, almost like a warning to herself.
"As this world moves closer and closer to night, do the infected become stronger and stronger?"
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