Suxiao carefully lifted his left foot, avoiding a mindless ghoul's claw that swept past him. The gust of wind blew up his pants leg, and the sharp tip of the ghoul's claw lightly grazed his pants.
“Rip~.”
The fabric tore, and Suxiao frowned. These creatures were strong, and their claws were exceptionally sharp. He continued to move forward without showing any signs of fear. With his mental strength, he could stay calm even in more dangerous situations.
Halfway through, Yuna had already passed through this dangerous area, skillfully navigating between the many mindless ghouls. Yuma and Yuna stood at the entrance of the opposite corridor, their thumbs ready to activate their Quinques, prepared to support Suxiao at any moment. After the previous battle, Suxiao knew that they were definitely not useless teammates; otherwise, he wouldn’t be covering for them.
Yuna crouched low, her long black hair cascading over her shoulders, carefully watching the movements of the mindless ghouls for Suxiao. Suddenly, one of her hands shot up, while her other hand brought her index and middle fingers together, tapping her palm. This gesture meant "stop."
Suxiao immediately noticed Yuna's action. She pointed at two mindless ghouls in front of Suxiao, who were facing away from him, making it hard for him to see their movements. Yuna gestured to the side, indicating that Suxiao should change his route.
Without much hesitation, Suxiao chose another path. Now the three of them were in the same boat, and from the distance between Yuma and Yuna, it was clear they wouldn’t leave him behind.
After taking a few steps, Suxiao noticed that the two mindless ghouls Yuna had pointed out were now awake, their heads swaying side to side as if they sensed something. He continued forward, and with Yuma and Yuna covering him, Suxiao successfully moved over 180 meters. Victory was in sight.
“Boom, boom~~.”
The sound of heavy footsteps came from behind. The three of them changed color; the mindless ghouls they had drawn away were coming back. Suxiao couldn’t afford to be exposed, so he quickened his pace, using the sound of running to cover him.
A few seconds later, Suxiao successfully crossed the dangerous area, and the three regrouped. Because of the rumbling footsteps, the ghouls in the open space became active. Yuna made a victory gesture, but at that moment, a ghoul suddenly appeared behind her.
It was a normal ghoul, a woman around thirty years old. It was not unusual for a ghoul to appear in District 24; they had encountered this situation several times before. However, the timing of this ghoul's appearance left the three feeling helpless.
The three of them immediately focused on the female ghoul, their killing intent palpable.
“White Death!”
The female ghoul gritted her teeth upon seeing Yuma. Suxiao knew things were about to go wrong, and he summoned his blade, Dragon Slash, adjusting his grip before throwing it with all his strength.
The female ghoul revealed a crazed smile as she spotted the mindless ghouls. She lived in District 24, so she recognized those "beasts."
“Ah!!!!”
A scream echoed through the corridor.
“Pfft.”
“Bang.”
Suxiao's blade and Yuma's golden electric sphere struck simultaneously. The female ghoul was first pierced by Dragon Slash and then turned to ash by the electric blast, collapsing dead on the ground.
But it was too late; that scream had alerted the mindless ghouls, and with the ones returning from deeper inside, there were at least five hundred of them.
Pairs of gray, hard-shelled eyes locked onto Suxiao and the others. In that instant, all sounds around them vanished.
Suxiao stiffly turned his head, and upon seeing all the standing mindless ghouls, his scalp tingled, and a chill ran up his spine. Facing so many mindless ghouls was definitely a dead end!
“Roar~!…”
The roars blended together as the mindless ghouls charged toward the three on all fours. Before that, the three had already sprinted forward desperately. As they passed the female ghoul's body, Suxiao reached out with one hand and grabbed the handle of Dragon Slash.
“Boom, boom….”
A cloud of dust rose behind them as the mindless ghouls rushed toward the three like beasts. Their speed was astonishing; they ran on all fours, using their tails for balance.
Even ordinary ghouls walked upright during battles, but these mindless ghouls were like wild animals, their tails perfectly replacing a real tail.
Suxiao and the others couldn't afford to look back; they ran for their lives. Suxiao's agility was at 13 points, and he was pretty fast, yet even so, the mindless ghouls were slowly closing in on them.
“This won’t do; we’ll be caught eventually.”
Yuma, despite running at high speed, remained calm. After passing through a straight corridor, they encountered two forks in the path.
“Bai Ye, you go left, I’ll go right. You take Yuna and go ahead; I’ll hold them off.”
Previously, Suxiao had been the one to cover the rear, but now Yuma took the initiative to do so.
“Good luck surviving.”
Suxiao nodded to Yuma; he wasn’t the type to hesitate. Yuma stopped in front of one of the forks. Suxiao and Yuna dashed into the other path, and before entering, Yuna shouted.
“Yuma, make sure to stay alive!”
After shouting, Yuna rushed into the fork.
“Boom.”
A crashing sound came from behind. Suxiao turned to look and saw that the entrance behind him had been firmly sealed.
That was Yuma’s Quinque, ‘IXA,’ which could change its form at will.
“Bang, bang….”
The sounds of impacts continued as the mindless ghouls slammed into the wall created by ‘IXA.’
‘IXA’ was indeed sturdy, but it couldn’t withstand such impacts forever. After Suxiao ran a distance, a loud crash echoed, and the wall formed by ‘IXA’ broke.
About fifty to sixty mindless ghouls charged into the corridor, viciously pursuing Suxiao and Yuna.
Suxiao ignored the mindless ghouls and continued moving forward. After running for a few minutes, Suxiao suddenly stopped, and Yuna bumped into him from behind.
“Why~ aren’t~ we~ running?”
Yuna was out of breath. The previous battle combined with their frantic escape was no easy task. If their speeds were recorded, they would have easily beaten the world sprint champion.
“If we keep running, we’ll run out of energy. We can’t outrun these beasts.”
Suxiao stood still with his blade ready as the dozens of mindless ghouls quickly approached.
“I’ll cover you~; take this Quinque.”
Yuna tossed Suxiao a Quinque. He hesitated for a moment before pressing the button on it.
It was his first time using a Quinque.
“Click~.”
A silver metal box popped open, and the Quinque inside began to expand rapidly, attaching itself to his upper body upon contact with the air.
This wasn’t a weapon-type Quinque but an armor-type. Suxiao had seen this before. In the original story, Shinohara Yukiki used this kind of armor Quinque, named ‘New,’ which was recently developed by CCG.
The dark blue armor wrapped around Suxiao’s body; it was a bit heavy but offered strong defense. After putting on ‘New,’ a prompt appeared in the Reincarnation Paradise.
[You are wearing the Quinque ‘New.’ Strength +3, Agility -3, Defense +2, Movement speed reduced by 30%. (Temporary state; after removing ‘New,’ the gains or reductions will disappear.)]
With this Quinque ‘New’ combined with Suxiao’s sword skills, his combat effectiveness in a defensive position was at least doubled.
No tickets, crying and rolling on the ground, big snot all over you.
(End of Chapter)