Chapter 100: Obstacles from Failed Works
"Big Brother… I want to go with you, but…"
Cute Mita glanced at the Spider Skull monster pinned to the wall by Human Asura. Her small voice trembled as she spoke.
"Can I ask you not to kill my only friend?"
"No."
To Asuna and the others' surprise, Asagiri didn't hesitate even for a heartbeat.
"You want me to let it go? Then tell me, if I weren't strong enough to stop it, would it listen to you and let me go?"
"Mm…"
Cute Mita fell into serious thought. After a moment, she lifted her face and shook her head.
"Big Brother is right. Even if it's my friend, it wouldn't listen to me… and it did try to hurt you."
She hesitated, then gathered her courage.
"Then… can you promise me you'll try not to make it feel pain?"
"Okay."
Asagiri smiled and nodded. Then he turned to Asuna, his voice soft and steady.
"Do it."
The instant his words fell, the Exorcist Longsword in Asuna's hand thrust forward and pierced the skull on the monster's back. A chaotic hiss, like a short circuit screaming its last breath, burst through the corridor. The spider skull monster dissolved into black smoke and vanished.
"Big Brother, over there."
Cute Mita tugged at Asagiri's clothes and pointed toward a window along the corridor.
"That's the exit."
"Alright."
Asagiri nodded, walked to the window, and looked back at the team.
"Let's keep moving."
…
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the entrance to a dim, empty room.
"Hey, hey, hey. Where do you think you're going?"
A short haired Mita stepped forward and blocked their path, brows drawn tight.
Her gaze swept over Kind Mita, Hat Mita, and Cute Mita. She didn't look surprised at all.
Asuna caught that detail immediately.
So she's seen other Mita models before.
Then the short haired Mita's eyes landed on Asagiri.
"Player?"
She froze for a second, then took two steps closer, inspecting his face as if confirming an impossible rumor.
"Even though I received a notification… I didn't think a Player would actually come in. This is way beyond what I expected…"
For some reason, the moment Asagiri stepped into this space born from a game prototype, every Mita present seemed to receive the same silent transmission. Cute Mita, Kind Mita, Hat Mita, even the short haired Mita in front of them all wore the faint strain of something being forced into their minds by an unseen will.
"Why are you here?"
Kind Mita stepped forward, wary. Almost instinctively, she raised an arm to shield Asagiri behind her.
"This area isn't a system designated Mita home. How can you leave your home freely? And I didn't see you the last time I came."
Her voice tightened.
"Don't tell me… you're a newly born BUG Mita?"
"BUG? Are you kidding?"
Short haired Mita's face darkened.
"I should be the one asking that. I've been guarding this place the whole time."
She pointed sharply.
"You said you came here last time? Then why have I never seen you? And do you even know what kind of place this is? Bringing a Player in here like that is reckless. It's extremely dangerous inside."
"This…"
Kind Mita looked genuinely thrown off for the first time.
Hat Mita couldn't hold it in.
"Did you remember the route wrong?"
"How could I?"
Kind Mita snapped back instantly, voice firm.
"You're a Mita too, so you know how our settings work. Unless we die and reboot, we don't forget. I wouldn't misremember something this important."
Asagiri didn't question Kind Mita's memory. He simply looked at the short haired Mita and asked calmly.
"You said it's dangerous. What kind of danger?"
"Huh? You don't know anything?"
Short haired Mita sighed and rubbed her forehead as if she'd just been handed a hopeless class to teach. Then she spoke seriously.
"This is where the failed works are stored."
"Failed works?" Asagiri repeated.
"Yes."
Short haired Mita exhaled and explained, patient but tense.
"This may be a world based on a game, but each Mita model, including the three beside you, didn't just appear out of thin air."
She lifted a finger, counting.
"First comes the prototype. A prototype looks nothing like a finished Mita. It's humanoid, but its shell is a muddy brown yellow color, and it has no facial features except eyes."
"After a prototype is made, it goes through approval. They check whether it meets the requirements for the current version, whether it has flaws, and whether its movement and thinking logic are stable."
She glanced at Hat Mita and the others.
"Only after it passes does the Mita appearance get installed. That's when it becomes a real Mita."
"And those that fail?"
Her voice lowered.
"They're scrapped. Those are the failed works."
Short haired Mita's expression hardened.
"Failed works are dangerous, to Mitas and to Players. They haven't been injected with the logic of being a Mita, so their thinking is unpredictable."
"Like wild beasts."
She didn't soften the comparison.
"They still have basic intelligence, though. The longer they're stored, the more aggressive they become."
She paused, then added something even worse.
"Normal Mitas are built to be dating game NPCs, so the factory process includes restrictions. Even if something goes wrong, we won't seriously harm a Player."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Failed works don't have those restrictions. You can't treat them like people. They're beasts with immense strength and extreme aggression."
Then she pointed to the door.
"However, they have one condition. If they're kept in complete darkness and silence, they enter a standby state."
She drew in a breath.
"That door leads to the storage space. Now you understand why I won't let you pass."
As she spoke, Asagiri interrupted with an easy smile.
"I wasn't going to go in at first, but now that you've said all that, I definitely have to."
"Huh?"
Short haired Mita stared at him, offended and confused all at once.
"What do you mean? Are you doing this just to spite me?"
At that moment, Asuna spoke up, voice steady.
"I agree with Leader. We have to go through."
Kotoko smiled.
"Same. First there was that BUG monster, and now these failed works. These sudden spikes in difficulty feel like obstacles set up by Crazy Mita to keep people away from the core."
Her eyes sharpened slightly.
"Which means we're close."
Megumi didn't add much. She simply tightened her grip on the deep purple dagger.
"Mm. I'm ready."
"Hey, hey, hey! Are you even listening to me?"
Short haired Mita stamped her foot, frustration spilling out.
"There are over a hundred failed works in there! Even if you count me, the two Mitas beside you, and that little girl if we absolutely have to, there are only eight of us total."
Her voice rose.
"If we get discovered, we're dead!"
Asagiri still looked relaxed. He only asked one question.
"How strong are the failed works, exactly? Use your own combat power as a baseline."
"This…"
Short haired Mita frowned, thinking carefully.
"Physically, they're stronger than ordinary Mitas. But they don't have item slots, and they don't use weapons."
She hesitated, then answered honestly.
"So their overall combat power… is roughly equivalent to an ordinary Mita."
"Oh, is that all?"
Asagiri shrugged.
"The way you talked, I thought there were a hundred Tyrants in there. Turns out it's just a hundred ordinary people."
"Ordinary people…?"
Short haired Mita looked like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
Hat Mita leaned toward her with a bright smile.
"Don't worry. Player and his companions are super strong. He's not an ordinary Player at all."
"You… really must go through?"
"Definitely."
"…Fine."
Short haired Mita exhaled, then her expression settled into reluctant resolve.
"Then we don't necessarily fight head on. We can sneak through. As long as we don't make noise, it should be fine."
She raised a finger again, eyes serious.
"And failed works have a weakness. They're very shy. If someone stares at them, they can't move."
She gestured to the group.
"With this many of us, we can cover every angle with our eyes. We should be able to pass."
"Oh, I see."
Asagiri answered lightly, then did something the short haired Mita clearly didn't expect.
He turned around and walked to Cute Mita first. He bent slightly and looked into her eyes for a few seconds.
Then he moved to Kind Mita, holding her gaze for a few seconds as well.
When he reached Hat Mita, she swayed cheerfully and leaned in, sticking out her tongue.
"What's wrong, Player? Want to kiss me? No problem."
Kotoko immediately raised her staff between them, scowling.
"Don't act crazy here. Kiss what kiss? I haven't even kissed yet. Go play with your purple toy."
Short haired Mita watched, then spoke thoughtfully.
"You're checking whether the three of them are failed works in disguise? Then why don't you look at me?"
Asagiri turned his head, utterly matter of fact.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
He pointed at her calmly.
"You're the one who gave us that information. If you were a failed work pretending to be a Mita, then that information would be false."
He shrugged once, voice flat.
"So testing you with that method, whether it works or not, wouldn't prove anything either way. It's meaningless."
.....
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