Everything from start to finish took only a few minutes.
There was no need for any explanation. Maki simply said to Kaguya, "Trust him the way you trust me," and then began to act. She persuaded Yamamoto Hiroshi to return to his own room, while Takumi went straight for Green. The Faceless Head-Eater, an Obsession Item with an extremely strong visual impact, was displayed, and with just one line—"Help me or die"—the Green who had been secretly observing immediately dropped to his knees and hurriedly led Takumi to unlock the door to Room 205.
As for Tanaka, that man naturally noticed Takumi had taken out his own Obsession Item. But before he could fire his gun or do anything else, Takumi had already thrown out the Blood Puppet in advance, causing Tanaka to be entangled and restrained by his own Obsession Item, trapped in the corridor unable to move.
As for the Black guy, although Takumi still didn't know the name of this fellow who had been a background character for two rounds—nor why a single word from Tanaka had him eagerly following and serving as his sacrifice—Takumi, pressed for time, certainly wasn't going to waste words on him. With one slice of the scalpel across the wall, then a gesture toward him, the Black man—seeing the cement wall cut open with ease—was stunned and blurted, "Oh man, whatever you say, I'll do it," before running off to hide in Room 206.
By that time, the Knocking Entity had already gone downstairs, but when Takumi entered Room 205 and the others entered Room 206, only Tanaka remained trapped in the corridor. Thus, that thing was drawn straight toward him by such an obvious, taunting target.
When Takumi and Green came out again, they could clearly see Tanaka's body twisting and collapsing bit by bit, his mouth open wide but unable to let out a scream.
The Knocking Entity did not stay in the corridor. Although Takumi could not see it, Maki—who had been stationed at the door of Room 206—was constantly listening. Once she confirmed the footsteps had gone downstairs, she opened the door and tore the rulebook in half, sliding one half through the crack of Room 205's door as a signal to Takumi, letting him know the corridor was safe. After confirming Tanaka was already in the process of transformation, Maki gathered her courage and went forward to strip off the rest of his equipment.
Then came the most dangerous step: Takumi, emerging from Room 205, took out the Rescue Team badge, drove a small nail through it, and directly pinned it onto Tanaka's chest—who was already about to be completely transformed into the Knocking Entity.
He waited in the corridor for a short while, and only when the disintegration of Tanaka's body began to subside and his clothes started transforming into a life jacket did he retrieve the Blood Puppet Obsession Item. Then he slipped into Room 206 as well, locking the main door and shutting the living room door.
A few minutes later, when they opened the door again, Tanaka was no longer in the corridor—only a trail of wet footprints remained, stretching all the way toward the stairwell.
The assimilation effect of the Rescue Team Obsession Item had an exceptionally high priority, surpassing even the invisible Knocking Entity's assimilation, and its strength likely ranked just below that of the Shirakawa Apartments' core Horror Story.
Although the process of testing this was far from pleasant—indeed, it was excruciating to the extreme—all that pain ultimately turned into experience. In this new round, it became Takumi's advantage, ultimately helping him eliminate the two veteran players.
Only now did Takumi finally relax, giving Maki a thumbs-up.
From the start of their preparation to action, he and Maki had only exchanged a few quick thoughts—barely ten seconds in total. And to complete everything had taken just two or three minutes, with flawless coordination on both sides.
"Finally… the two biggest cancers have been wiped out."
After that chain of operations, Takumi—his mind somewhat exhausted from using several Obsession Items in quick succession—took a deep breath, sitting on the living room floor as he spoke with deep emotion.
As for the others present, aside from Maki—who knew everything and had actively cooperated—almost everyone else was in a layered state of confusion and shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened in those few opening minutes.
...
[Drip—drip—]
He took off his soaked shoes.
Takumi placed the key to Room 304 and the cassette tape on the table, then set down three Rescue Team badges, leaning back in the chair and exhaling deeply.
Exploration of the first floor had gone very smoothly. With experience from before, he immediately found a way to tear off one of the badges and attach it to himself, then entered Room 109 and obtained the key and tape. And this time, he had not suffered the gaze that came from uncovering the Shirakawa Apartments' core information—so far, there had been no sign of that little thing around him.
However, he had a feeling that if he even tried to recall what he had seen in the previous round—without saying it aloud, merely recalling it in his mind—it might draw that thing's gaze again. As the true source of danger within the Shirakawa Apartments, if he dared underestimate it just because he could restart, the outcome would undoubtedly be nothing short of miserable.
"This badge, when worn, allows one to be temporarily recognized as a member of the Rescue Team—it's a very useful Obsession Item. But its erosion of willpower is extremely frightening, so, Shinomiya-san, Maki, I'll only let the two of you use it. Be very careful when you do. The moment you notice anything abnormal in your mental state, you must take the badge off immediately. Shinomiya-san, you can ask Maki about it—she knows very well what happens if you wear this thing for too long."
Takumi, in all seriousness, spoke to the two girls before him.
Among them, Kaguya hesitated to speak, her gaze shifting back and forth between Maki and Takumi, but in the end she only nodded silently without saying anything more.
By contrast, Maki's gaze was much sharper. Her cheeks were faintly flushed, and to Takumi's words she only replied with, "I understand," without continuing further.
As for Yamamoto Hiroshi and Maeda Miwa—yes, this time it was the real Maeda Miwa, not that idiotic traitor—although she was still useless, at least this woman could understand human speech and knew when to keep quiet, which was quite a rare virtue. In short, both of their worldviews had been easily reshaped, and the method was simple: Takumi directly used the Blood Puppet Obsession Item on them, letting them personally experience what it felt like to be seized by a group of corpses and dragged into the mud (after, of course, gagging them first). After that, both Yamamoto Hiroshi and Maeda Miwa became completely obedient.
As for Green, after witnessing the scene earlier where Takumi threatened people while holding a severed head, he now viewed Takumi as that type of ruthless player who would cut down anyone who disobeyed. Consequently, he was ten times—no, nine times—more obedient than in the previous two rounds. Takumi was quite satisfied with this; though even so, he wouldn't trust that thing at a critical moment.
As for the Black guy, Takumi had finally learned his name: Jamal, a diehard fan of fantasy web novels.
Well… putting that questionable point aside, this Black guy was actually quite reliable. Right from the start, he declared he wanted to be the "junior member" of Takumi's infinite-flow squad, to adventure together, gain enhancements from the Main God, and transcend his genetic limits to become a superhuman or something… Anyway, questionable points aside, this guy called Jamal seemed fairly dependable.
All the items obtained by the group—those that had once belonged to the two veteran players—were now laid out on the table in Room 206.
Two scalpels, possessing extremely sharp edges capable of easily cutting through bone, and so durable that they would not wear down. However, when used, they gradually stirred a violent urge to attack within the heart, making one increasingly bloodthirsty and, in the end, inevitably leading to loss of self. They were weapons that required a person of strong will to handle with great caution.
A red cloth doll—Takumi had never quite figured out its method of use or effect, but he constantly felt that the eyes of this thing were those of a living person, endlessly watching the surroundings. Since he had not yet determined how to use it precisely, he decided to store it inside the watch's extradimensional space. After all, Obsession Items were connected to Horror Stories, and such things had to be treated carefully.
The Blood Puppet was a rather straightforward Obsession Item tool. Its function was to restrict movement, targeting only a single entity at a time, dragging the target down. If the target's resistance was insufficient, it seemed to pull them into a pit of sludge, where, presumably, they would die completely. To reclaim it, one had to retrieve the very Blood Puppet that had been thrown out at the start; otherwise, the thing would not stop moving. It was a highly unstable and dangerous item.
The Faceless Head-Eater was equally dangerous. After testing it once, Takumi confirmed that once this thing was released, it had to eat flesh—and it had to be fresh flesh at that. Otherwise, it would inevitably turn against its master. Even if it had eaten, one still had to be extremely cautious during retrieval, as a single careless moment could lead to being bitten. Moreover, it was a tool meant purely for use against humans. Back during the second round, when Takumi had been partially transformed into a member of the Rescue Team, this thing had simply gone on strike, showing no reaction to horrors at all.
Takumi had hesitated over whether to keep it, thinking the thing was both useless and dangerous. However, given that both Tanaka and the traitorous woman—those two veteran players—had left him with a pessimistic outlook on the overall quality of the Sacrifice Game's participants, Takumi ultimately decided to keep it, designating it as a self-defense weapon.
Lastly, Takumi obtained a small box of ashes. He remembered that this thing had caused him some trouble during his semi-transformation before. However, since it was not classified by the watch as an Obsession Item, it could not be stored within, so he entrusted it to Maki for safekeeping.
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