Chapter 444: The Last Thirty Days

Chapter 444: Chapter 444: The Last Thirty Days

Chapter 444: The Last Thirty Days

Seeing Asagiri’s thoughtful expression, Eriri secretly glanced at his profile.

After hesitating for a while, she finally could not resist cautiously asking,

"Um... Have we met somewhere before?"

"I don’t mean as Players. I mean in real life...?"

The moment Eriri asked that question, a hint of nervousness appeared in Shijo Maki’s eyes.

Had it finally come to this?

Although Asagiri’s voice was altered by the Hunter Mask, he had made no deliberate effort to disguise his physique, manner of speaking, hairstyle, or gaze.

Kasumigaoka Utaha was not particularly familiar with Asagiri in real life, so it was perfectly normal that she had not recognized him.

Eriri, however, was different.

She had spent plenty of time around Asagiri during the previous school trip and at the comic convention. They had even talked for a long time on the plane.

The two of them could already be considered friends.

Even someone as slow as Eriri should have realized by now that something was off.

But the problem was...

Why would you ask him that in front of Utaha!?

Since Asagiri had not deliberately disguised himself, he probably did not care whether Eriri discovered his identity.

But Utaha was not familiar with him.

You simple minded golden haired loser, couldn’t you have asked him privately!?

Shijo Maki’s thoughts raced.

She immediately smiled and tried to smooth things over.

"It’s normal for him to seem familiar. After all, if you count the arrival of the Dead Realm and the Tokyo Scramble, this is already the third time you’ve met him."

"What’s that word again...? Right, déjà vu."

"It’s probably just an illusion..."

"Not an illusion."

Before Shijo Maki could finish rescuing the situation, Asagiri directly removed his Hunter Mask and revealed his true face.

Then he casually waved at Eriri.

"Hello."

"He... hello...?"

Eriri stared at Asagiri’s handsome, smiling face.

Her brain completely shut down.

Several seconds passed before she finally reacted, shock spreading across her expression.

"You... Utsunomiya-san?"

"You... You’re Shadow!?"

"Can you not say it like an Ultraman host revealing his secret identity?"

Asagiri laughed before continuing in a relaxed tone.

"What’s so surprising?"

"Shadow is simply one of my identities when acting as a Player."

"Just like when I’m working as an independent eroge creator, I’m Eroge Shooter."

"What!?"

Eriri was struck by an even greater shock.

Far greater than when Asagiri had removed his mask.

"You... You’re the person who makes indie eroge?"

"The famous, legendary creator of the indie eroge world..."

"Eroge Shooter!?"

"That’s right."

This time, Asagiri did not mock her reaction.

Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and smiled profoundly.

"Standing before you is the first place winner of the Sakura Province Joint Examination, a dual genius in academics and athletics who won three national championships during middle school, the Vice President of Shuchiin Private Academy’s Student Council, the partner of the Flash Swordsman, the boyfriend of the God of Curses, the non background male lead of the background female lead, the one who saved the terminally ill girl and made the sakura bloom once more, the bane of Earth Cancer, the man who sank the Kaguya battleship, the strongest Player in the Death Game, the Persona user who transcended death, the chosen one who wields the power of annihilation to create hope for salvation, and Tokyo’s number one Eroge Shooter."

Asagiri smiled confidently.

"That would be me!"

Shijo Maki, Kasumigaoka Utaha, and Eriri all stared at him with complicated expressions.

It almost felt as though black lines were appearing across their foreheads.

Why had this suddenly turned into a menu recital?

And even if he wanted to list his titles, why were there so many?

Worse yet, they came from completely different genres.

Judging only from the first few, he sounded like the perfect elite student who excelled in both academics and sports while serving as Student Council Vice President.

Then the style suddenly changed.

Every title after that seemed to belong to an entirely different kind of story.

They did not even fully understand some of them.

And yet...

Somehow, it still sounded ridiculously impressive.

Was this really right?

"By the way..."

Shijo Maki looked at Eriri curiously.

"What exactly do you mean by indie eroge and creator?"

"Is Utsunomiya-san also a doujinshi artist like you?"

"Eh? No, no, no."

Eriri hurriedly waved her hands, looking somewhat flustered.

"Although we’re both independent creators, Utsunomiya-san and I make completely different kinds of work."

"And..."

Eriri hesitated briefly.

"I’m nowhere near his level."

"You would actually say something like that...?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked genuinely surprised.

In her eyes, the real Sawamura Spencer Eriri was an extremely proud person.

She certainly possessed enough talent to justify that confidence, but her personality could even be described as unpleasant at times.

Yet when discussing Utsunomiya-san, some kind of independent eroge creator, she became this humble?

Kasumigaoka Utaha vaguely remembered Eriri mentioning that there was one independent eroge creator she desperately wanted to collaborate with.

His name had apparently been Eroge Shooter.

So after all this...

You entered a Death Game and somehow ended up fangirling?

"Why did you do that?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha knew that both Shijo Maki and Eriri seemed to harbor unusual feelings toward Utsunomiya-san.

That meant someone had to remain rational.

"Why did you remove your mask?"

"Even if Eriri had already begun suspecting something, Maki was helping you cover it up."

"There was no need to reveal your identity directly, was there?"

"Yes. Why indeed?"

Asagiri smiled noncommittally before speaking softly.

"Let’s just say that I need your help."

"For Players who trust Shadow, as long as I continue winning, they’ll follow me until the end."

"But Sawamura will trust Utsunomiya Asagiri more than she trusts Shadow."

"Won’t she?"

"You... need our help?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha frowned.

Asagiri’s strength far exceeded hers, Shijo Maki’s, and Eriri’s.

His teammates were also among the strongest Players at the current stage.

She genuinely could not imagine what kind of assistance he could possibly need from them.

"For the details, ask Ashikaga-sensei after we return to the real world."

Asagiri looked toward Shijo Maki.

"Once you understand the truth behind this Game, you’ll understand why this information matters."

...

That evening, inside the hotel room.

"Ugh..."

Iwanaga Kotoko, who had been sleeping deeply, slowly opened her purplish blue eyes.

A cute, lazy haze lingered in them.

She yawned and gradually sat up.

"Hey..."

Iwanaga Kotoko looked toward Asagiri sitting beside the bed.

Realizing that he had stayed beside her throughout her sleep, she could not stop the corners of her lips from curving upward.

Her voice was slightly hoarse from sleeping for so long.

"Are we still in the Dungeon world?"

"Yes."

Asagiri picked up the glass of water from the bedside table and handed it to her.

Iwanaga Kotoko accepted it with both fair hands and began drinking in small sips, looking unusually docile.

After Asagiri finished explaining everything he had discovered, Iwanaga Kotoko immediately fell into deep thought.

"Something born entirely from conceptual power can only be destroyed through conceptual power..."

She murmured to herself, a thoughtful light appearing in her purplish blue eyes.

Make humanity forget death?

How could something like that possibly be accomplished?

Forget making every human across countless worlds forget the concept of death.

Even making everyone in their own world forget death was impossible.

Even if some worldwide brainwashing ability could temporarily erase the concept of death from everyone’s mind, it would not last forever.

It would merely delay the problem.

"What if we completely isolate the world where Nyx has already descended?"

"No... That wouldn’t work either."

Before Iwanaga Kotoko could finish speaking, she shook her head and rejected her own idea.

"Completely sealing off an entire world would be far too difficult."

"If a method like that truly existed, the system wouldn’t have given us this hint."

"We need to destroy Nyx completely. We can’t rely on some clever shortcut."

"At the very least, we would need to seal it so completely that it could never create another Incarnation..."

The longer she thought, the deeper Iwanaga Kotoko’s brows furrowed.

For the first time, she felt genuinely lost.

She had encountered a problem for which she could find no answer.

"I just discussed it with Violet and the others. There may be one way."

Seeing Iwanaga Kotoko’s adorably troubled expression, Asagiri reached out and pinched her cheek.

"Since Nyx’s power comes from pure conceptual forces, and we’ve already destroyed all of its Incarnations, leaving only its true body in the Blackwatch world..."

"As long as we either eliminate every human in that world, or somehow make all of them stop fearing death, Nyx’s power should weaken."

"If that prevents it from counteracting Supreme Magic Bullet..."

"Then perhaps we can erase it completely."

"So in the end, it still comes down to Supreme Magic Bullet..."

Iwanaga Kotoko murmured.

Then she looked toward Asagiri and smiled.

"Anyway, let’s proceed with that idea for now."

"First, we’ll return to the real world and check the rewards from this Dungeon."

"After that, we’ll discuss the next plan."

"Okay."

Asagiri handed his phone to Iwanaga Kotoko.

She opened the Eye Icon APP and tapped the option to confirm Dungeon clearance.

Her figure disappeared.

Asagiri then selected the same option.

[Congratulations, "Player" Utsunomiya Asagiri. You have cleared this Dungeon.]

[Your special bonus actions during this Dungeon were...]

Before the text formed from dark red mist could finish appearing, it suddenly shattered.

Immediately afterward, a new message materialized before Asagiri’s eyes.

[Thirty days...]

[I’m sorry...]

[I can no longer buy you any more time...]

....

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