"These ghouls' attire is really strange," Yuna murmured, her voice filled with confusion. Clearly, she had never seen ghouls dressed like primitive humans before.
"Are these kinds of ghouls rare in the 24th ward?" Su Xiao asked casually, as if it was an innocent question.
"They should be. I've been exploring the 24th ward for half a year, and this is the first time I've seen ghouls dressed like this," Yuna replied, her eyes scanning the ghouls with curiosity.
"Arima, you've been exploring the 24th ward for longer than I have. Have you seen ghouls like this before?" Yuna turned to Arima, who didn't respond. Instead, he quietly stepped out from the corner.
Su Xiao got the feeling that Arima might know something. From the moment he first saw Arima, Su Xiao had sensed something odd about him. Arima's physique seemed unnaturally strong, almost as if he wasn't human, more akin to a ghoul.
However, this was just a hunch. Su Xiao had seen Arima eat human food with his own eyes, and they had spent enough time together without Arima showing any signs of being a ghoul. All of Arima's behavior seemed entirely human.
Arima's physique might resemble that of a ghoul, but his actions didn't align with that of one.
As Su Xiao pondered this, Arima had already stepped out from the corner, and his Quinque, Narukami, appeared in his hand.
Narukami was an S+ rank Quinque with three forms. Its first form was a cannon that could emit a wide-range electrical current. The second form was a claw that could fire electric spheres from a distance. The third form was a sword, extremely durable and suitable for close combat.
Currently, Arima was using the sword form.
"One ghoul each. We must finish this quickly," Arima said, his eyes locking with Su Xiao's, making his intentions clear.
Arima's actions confused Su Xiao even more. These two ghouls weren't particularly strong. Arima could easily handle them on his own. Was he trying to test Su Xiao's strength? That didn't seem likely, as these ghouls weren't strong enough for that.
Since entering the 24th ward, Su Xiao had felt something was off. There were too many mysteries here, and it seemed like Arima knew something about it. But Su Xiao wasn't close enough to Arima to ask, and Arima wasn't the type to offer help easily. Su Xiao would have to uncover the truth on his own.
"Alright," Su Xiao agreed, gripping his Dragon Flash sword as he moved to stand alongside Arima.
They were positioned behind the two ghouls, who were too busy fighting over a corpse to notice them. Arima raised three fingers, beginning a silent countdown.
As soon as the last finger dropped, the two of them rushed forward in perfect synchronization.
During the charge, Su Xiao noticed that Arima's speed was almost equal to his own. This only deepened Su Xiao's suspicion about Arima. His agility score was 13, but could a normal human in this world really have such high agility?
Within a few short steps, Su Xiao and Arima reached their targets. The ghouls only realized something was wrong at the last moment.
With a flash of his sword, Su Xiao's blade cleaved through the air, neatly decapitating the ghoul in one swift motion. Quick, precise, lethal—he had finished his target in a single strike.
Looking over, Su Xiao saw that Arima had also decapitated his target with the same level of efficiency.
Further down the tunnel, Yuna stared at them in a daze. She had long known about Arima's strength, but seeing Su Xiao fight had left her equally shocked.
"Damn it, I'm the weakest one here," Yuna muttered in frustration, though there was little she could do about it.
As soon as Su Xiao killed his ghoul, a message from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[You have killed a resident of the Diakman tribe.]
[CCG Contribution Points increased by 46. Diakman Tribe reputation decreased by 92. Your reputation with the Diakman Tribe has now fallen below -50. The Diakman Tribe will actively attack you on sight.]
After receiving this notification, Su Xiao was even more puzzled. What exactly was this "Diakman Tribe"? He had no knowledge of such a group in the original storyline.
"Squelch."
Arima plunged his sword into the corpse of the ghoul and extracted a kagune sac from its body.
"These kagune sacs are valuable. If you're looking for rank or status, you can hand them over to the 24th ward's Information Department for rewards," Arima explained, washing the blood off the kagune sac with a bottle of water before placing it into his bag.
Su Xiao mimicked Arima's actions, cutting out the kagune sac from his ghoul's body. As soon as he touched the sac, another message from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[You have obtained a Type-1 kagune sac, which can be exchanged for 40 CCG Contribution Points.]
Killing primitive ghouls and harvesting their kagune sacs seemed to be highly rewarding. The contribution points gained from killing these primitive ghouls were more than ten times what could be earned from killing ghouls on the surface.
Why there was such a disparity was still unclear to Su Xiao, and the mysteries of the 24th ward only deepened.
Just as the three were about to continue their journey deeper into the ward, Su Xiao noticed a pair of red eyes glaring at them from a distance. Standing at the end of the tunnel, about 100 meters away, was another ghoul.
"This isn't good," Arima muttered, an uncharacteristic frown appearing on his face. He seemed genuinely worried.
The ghoul at the end of the tunnel was also dressed like a primitive. After spotting the bodies of its comrades, it let out two strange, high-pitched cries.
"Ah-ooh! Ah-ooh!"
The shrill cries echoed through the tunnel.
Arima's Quinque, Narukami, shifted into its ranged form.
"Bang!"
A golden electric orb shot out, striking the ghoul dead center. The ghoul convulsed and fell to the ground, its body charred by the electrical attack.
Arima narrowed his eyes behind his glasses, his face darkening.
"Prepare to defend. Yuna, stay behind me," Arima ordered as he activated his second Quinque.
Arima's other Quinque, IXA, was also an S+ rank weapon. It could transform into multiple forms and was both offensive and defensive.
"Where are the enemies?" Su Xiao asked, his tone serious. Although he hadn't sensed anything yet, Arima's uncharacteristic behavior had put him on high alert.
"They'll be here… soon," Arima replied, his voice grim.
Suddenly, Su Xiao felt the ground tremble slightly beneath his feet.
"Rumble..."
It was as if an entire army was charging toward them from both sides of the tunnel. Dust began to fall from the ceiling.
"Ah-ooh! Ah-ooh! Ah-ooh…"
The eerie cries echoed once again.
From both directions, countless ghouls came rushing toward them, blocking both their path forward and their escape. Every ghoul was dressed like a primitive, wearing grass skirts and bone necklaces. Some of them had simple, crude symbols painted on their faces, resembling bloated fish.
Dozens of bare feet pounded the ground as the primitive ghouls charged forward, raising a cloud of dust in their wake.
"Damn it!" Su Xiao cursed under his breath. A rough estimate suggested there were over 300 ghouls coming at them, completely surrounding them.
"We haven't fought together before, but let's cooperate. Otherwise, we're dead," Su Xiao said, turning to Arima, who nodded solemnly.
"Agreed. You take the left side, I'll take the right. Don't let them surround us."
In times of crisis, teamwork became essential, and the looming battle was about to put their newfound partnership to the test.
"And what about me?" Yuna asked, looking at them with a mix of fear and resignation.
"Support both of us as needed," Su Xiao replied, tightening his grip on Dragon Flash, ready for the incoming onslaught.
"Leave it to me," Yuna said, though her expression still showed her uncertainty.
Even though Su Xiao was only a First-Class Investigator, a rank lower than Yuna's, rank no longer mattered in this situation. Strength was the only thing that counted now.
"Chew-chew-chew..." came a series of strange noises from the leader of the primitive ghouls, a figure brandishing a long tree root as a weapon, with several bird feathers stuck into its head.
At this signal, the primitive ghouls bared their fangs and rushed toward Su Xiao, like a pack of wild beasts.
(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.