Under the dim streetlights, a swarm of insects gathered, buzzing around incessantly. The midnight silence of the street was abruptly shattered by a gunshot that echoed through the night.
Su Xiao glanced toward the source of the gunshot, deducing that Juuzou Suzuya had already engaged the enemy contractors. He pressed the Bluetooth earpiece in his ear.
"Juuzou," he called, but there was no response. Suzuya likely dropped the earpiece during the fight.
Su Xiao wasn't too concerned, though. He didn't know much about the sniper's strength, but Suzuya could handle it. The most important task now was to deal with the shield-wielding female warrior in front of him.
After being healed by the girl named Yoko, the Queen's health had recovered to 67%.
That girl in green clothes, Yoko, had impressive healing abilities, Su Xiao thought.
The Queen eyed Su Xiao warily. She had picked up her shield, but since Su Xiao had cut off her right arm, her posture was awkward.
"Even if someone develops evenly across three attributes, it's impossible to have this kind of overwhelming attack power. And that blue light... causing such intense pain. No doubt, you've already obtained a class template," the Queen said. She had been through three derivative worlds and had far more experience than most contractors.
"Who knows," Su Xiao replied casually. Right now, he was more concerned with the support contractor hiding in the shadows.
However, due to the "Mithril Chains" restricting him, Su Xiao couldn't stray more than 30 meters away from the Queen. This skill was extremely annoying, binding him to the tanky shield warrior while the support remained hidden. This made it difficult to take them out quickly.
With Juuzou Suzuya's situation unclear, Su Xiao decided that a quick resolution was the safest course of action. He rushed toward the Queen, swinging his long blade.
Instead of slicing, Su Xiao reversed the sword and struck the shield hard with the hilt.
Bam!
The dull sound rang out as the Queen's arm absorbed the impact. When dealing with shield-bearers, blunt force was often more effective than slashing.
The Queen gritted her teeth and swung her shield toward Su Xiao in a desperate counterattack. He dodged nimbly. The battle had left him with a few minor injuries; when he blocked the earlier sniper shots with his shield, the impact rattled him, and his health had dropped to around 85%.
As he sidestepped the Queen's shield strike, Su Xiao grabbed the edge of the shield with his left hand.
The Queen's internal monologue groaned: "Not again."
Gripping the edge of her shield, Su Xiao lowered his gaze and smirked.
"You're a shield warrior, but you can't even hold onto your shield? You might as well die."
With a hard pull, Su Xiao yanked the shield back, and at the same time, thrust his sword forward.
The Queen was left with two choices: either let go of her shield or get skewered by Su Xiao's blade.
If she gave up her shield, she'd be completely exposed to Su Xiao, whose powerful attacks already filled her with dread. But if she held on, she'd face the searing pain she remembered from his earlier strikes. That agony was something she'd never forget.
In the end, the Queen released her shield and dodged the incoming blade.
Su Xiao, now holding the shield, tossed it aside forcefully.
With a clatter, the large metal shield crashed through a nearby storefront. Inside the shop, shampoo bottles fell off shelves and rolled onto the discarded shield.
The Queen stood silently for a moment, contemplating. After a few seconds, she spoke up:
"We were the ones who attacked you first today. I'm willing to pay 10,000 Paradise Coins as compensation. Let's stop this fight. Otherwise, we might both end up seriously injured."
Now realizing how dangerous Su Xiao was, the Queen decided to negotiate and back down.
"Pay up first," Su Xiao demanded, planning to take the money without following through.
"Fine."
The Reincarnation Paradise system notified Su Xiao.
[Contractor ***** requests to initiate a temporary contract with you.]
[During this derivative world, you are prohibited from attacking members of the ***** team, and ***** team members are prohibited from doing anything harmful to you...]
[Once this contract is agreed upon, Contractor ***** will pay 10,000 Paradise Coins as a reward.]
[Note: This contract is notarized by Reincarnation Paradise and cannot be violated.]
[Note: The contract is written by the initiator. Please review it carefully. Violating the contract will result in punishment from Reincarnation Paradise.]
[Penalty for breach of contract: 300,000 Paradise Coins.]
[Do you agree to sign the contract? Yes/No.]
Su Xiao was surprised to discover that Reincarnation Paradise had such a feature. After asking around, he learned he could also write contracts himself, although it would cost 50 Paradise Coins.
However, Su Xiao chose to reject the Queen's contract. His plan had been to extort the money without signing, but now that he knew about the contract feature, his intention to let her off vanished.
Seeing Su Xiao's refusal, the Queen's expression darkened.
"What do you mean by this?" she asked, her voice cold.
"What do I mean? I mean I'm going to kill you," Su Xiao replied, pulling out a salted rice ball and shoving it into his mouth. The rice ball would restore 10% of his health, a nice little bonus.
"Don't push me," the Queen threatened, her voice now icy.
"Heh... Hahaha!" Su Xiao began to laugh maniacally, his blade gleaming in the dim light.
"You planted explosives along my path and now you tell me not to push you? I won't stop until I've cut off your head," he growled, his eyes turning toward a small alley nearby.
"And you, hiding over there. Stay put. Once I've sliced her apart, you're next," Su Xiao threatened.
His words were so menacing that Yoko, hiding in the alley, trembled in fear. As a support contractor, she rarely participated in combat and wasn't used to this level of intensity.
Knowing she had no room to argue, the Queen fell silent, pulling out a test tube and a knight's sword. Inside the tube was a thick, bright red liquid.
"Yoko, keep an eye on my health at all times!" the Queen yelled, tilting her head back to down the potion.
"Ugh, it tastes awful!" she spat, her face twisting in disgust.
After drinking the unknown liquid, the Queen's face was marked with strange, whisker-like lines, and her body was enveloped in a dark red energy.
"Power... surging!" she exclaimed.
Within seconds, the Queen's once black eyes turned into blood-red, beast-like pupils.
A deep sense of unease gripped Su Xiao. He activated his Basic Detection skill.
[10 mana points consumed. Basic Detection activated. Information obtained as follows:]
[Contractor: 11740 (Berserk State)]
[Strength: 6 + 10
Agility: 5 + 10
Endurance: ???
Intelligence: 5
Charisma: 6]
[Skill 1: Berserk State (Temporary Passive) – Lose 3% HP per second. When HP falls below 5%, Berserk State will forcibly end.]
[Skill 2: Lesser Fox Demon Bloodline (Temporary Passive) – Strength, Agility, and Endurance +10.]
[Skill 3: Blood of Madness (Temporary Passive) – Every 10 seconds, perform a random attribute check. If failed, fall into a state of confusion. (Random Attribute Check: One attribute out of five is randomly selected for evaluation.)]
[Skill 4: ???]
[Skill 5: ???]
[Skill 6: ???]
...
Su Xiao's brow twitched. What on earth had this woman just drunk? It gave her a +10 boost to Strength, Agility, and Endurance!
While her combat power had skyrocketed, she was also in trouble. Losing 3% HP per second meant she would die in 34 seconds, though the support contractor, Yoko, would probably prolong that time.
"Roar!!"
A beastly roar erupted from the Queen. Unfortunately for her, her "Blood of Madness" skill triggered an attribute check—and it landed on Charisma.
Check failed!
(End of Chapter)
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Translator's Note :- I am Not that familiar with a lot of the fictional worlds mentioned in the story. So if I make a mistake naming something please correct me by writing a paragraph comment on the mistake. Thank you.