The underground passage Su Xiao was in wasn't particularly wide, only about three meters, allowing at most four ghouls to charge at him at once. This significantly reduced the pressure he faced.
Four ghouls rushed at Su Xiao, claws bared. Strangely, none of them used their kagune.
There was no time for Su Xiao to dwell on that. Even without kagune, these ghouls were still dangerous.
Su Xiao gripped his Dragon Flash sword tightly and slashed several white lines through the air.
"Shhk, shhk!"
Several arms were severed, and the ghouls in front of him let out pained screams.
With a firm grip on his sword, he executed a horizontal slash!
One clean sweep, and the ghouls in front of him had their throats sliced open, blood gushing everywhere. The timing of this strike was impeccable.
The four ghouls in front of him fell, but new ones immediately took their place, giving him no time to rest.
Su Xiao was completely focused, swinging his sword toward the newly arrived ghouls.
Blood splattered, limbs flew. In less than two minutes, a heap of corpses had piled up in front of Su Xiao.
Seeing this, Su Xiao quickly jumped onto the pile of corpses.
Though standing on the corpses made the ground a bit soft and unstable, not standing there would allow the ghouls to attack him from above.
Standing atop the pile, Su Xiao gained the advantage of fighting from a higher position.
Sounds of battle and ghoul roars echoed throughout the passage.
Five minutes had passed since the fight began, and Su Xiao still hadn't seen any ghoul using their kagune.
It seemed these ghouls either didn't know how to use their kagune or didn't have one at all.
In contrast, their physical strength was overwhelming, and their flesh was tough. Within a very short time, Dragon Flash's durability had dropped by 3 points.
The current durability of Dragon Flash was 28/40. If this battle continued for over two hours, its durability might be completely depleted.
Left with no choice, Su Xiao activated his Azure Steel Shadow ability. He had 253 mana points, and this ability could last for about two hours.
With faint blue electricity crackling around Dragon Flash, slicing through the ghouls' flesh became noticeably easier.
After cleaving a ghoul in two, Su Xiao noticed another ghoul leaping into the air, pouncing toward him like a wild animal.
Su Xiao kicked a nearby ghoul away and slashed his sword upward.
The pouncing ghoul had half of its head sliced off, but Su Xiao didn't stop to finish it off.
As he prepared to strike down the next ghoul, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his lower leg.
Looking down, he saw the ghoul, whose head he had sliced earlier, biting down on his calf.
Up until now, Su Xiao had thought these ghouls were strong, tough, and hard to kill.
Now, he had to add one more observation: they had an insane vitality.
Su Xiao swung his leg forcefully, dislodging several rotten teeth from the ghoul's mouth as it was thrown off.
Without hesitation, Su Xiao stomped on the ghoul's head. A spray of white fluid splattered out, and the ghoul's skull, already cracked, was completely crushed.
In that brief moment, another ghoul closed in on Su Xiao.
His expression shifted slightly—this one was too close.
But he quickly adapted. With a spin of his sword, Su Xiao struck the ghoul's face with the hilt.
The ghoul let out a howl as it staggered back, holding its face in pain.
Without missing a beat, Su Xiao slashed downward, killing the ghoul instantly.
"Bang!"
A gunshot echoed from behind. A ghoul that was about to attack Su Xiao was shot clean through the head.
Su Xiao glanced over. Yuna was holding a long, slender rifle—her quinque, M. Red Moon.
Realizing that Yuna had long-range support capabilities, Su Xiao felt a bit more at ease.
With Yuna's support, Su Xiao and Arima could focus on fighting without having to worry about too many sneak attacks.
Like Su Xiao, Arima was standing atop a pile of corpses, cutting down any ghoul that approached.
Yuna was positioned between the two corpse piles, with Su Xiao on one side and Arima on the other.
The fight had now become a mechanical slaughter. Despite Su Xiao and Arima's strength, they couldn't avoid getting injured. Some of the primitive ghouls carried black stone spears, hidden among the crowd.
These spear-wielding ghouls were particularly dangerous, though there weren't many of them.
The hole in Su Xiao's thigh was caused by one of those black spears.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
Two short, sharp cries echoed from the back, coming from the ghoul leader hiding in the distance.
Upon hearing the cries, the ghouls became even more frenzied, charging at Su Xiao with reckless abandon. This was clearly the signal for a full assault.
The pressure on Su Xiao surged, and he almost lost his footing.
With red light flickering in his eyes, Su Xiao let out a roar and slashed three times in quick succession.
"Shhk, shhk, shhk!"
Three slashes later, the ghouls in front of him had been cleared out, creating a brief respite.
The battle had now been going on for nearly 20 minutes, and Su Xiao was rapidly running out of stamina. Despite his enhanced attributes, he could only keep up this level of intensity for about half an hour.
He glanced toward Arima. The man's usual composed, god-like appearance was gone. His glasses were cracked, and his body was drenched in blood, as if he had just crawled out of a pool of it.
"Chirp~~ Chirp!"
One long cry and one short cry rang out. The ghouls attacking Su Xiao suddenly stopped and began to retreat.
Su Xiao, panting heavily, looked at them in confusion.
Scanning the area, he saw that the ground beneath him was covered in bodies, the pile at least two meters high, stretching far down the passage.
He and Arima had moved about five to six meters apart during the fight. As long as they prevented the ghouls from flanking them, they didn't need to stay too close together.
The ghoul leader glared at Su Xiao and Arima with burning hatred. His face, painted with crude fish-like patterns, twitched occasionally.
It seemed that after losing so many of his people, the ghoul leader decided to retreat.
The horde of ghouls pulled back toward the sides of the passage, disappearing from sight. Su Xiao chose not to pursue them.
These mysterious ghouls were clearly not to be trifled with. If the fight had continued for just 10 more minutes, he would have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers.
Once the ghouls had completely disappeared, Su Xiao leaned against a wall, his body weak from exhaustion.
Arima was in no better shape, using his quinque, Narukami, to prop himself up.
"What now?" Yuna asked, her stamina still high since she had only been providing support from the center.
"We leave, immediately."
"We leave, immediately."
Su Xiao and Arima spoke in unison, causing Yuna to blink in surprise.
"The smell of blood here is too strong. It might attract more ghouls," Su Xiao explained as he lit a cigarette and struggled to stand straight.
"Let's head back to the temporary base. This exploration is over," Arima said.
It seemed the appearance of these primitive ghouls had caught Arima off guard, prompting him to end the mission early.
Yuna shrugged, not objecting.
The three of them began heading back the way they had come. After about 10 minutes of walking, they stopped to rest.
Both Su Xiao and Arima needed a break, while Yuna kept watch with her quinque.
Leaning against the fleshy walls, Su Xiao reflected on the battle. He had earned 2,670 CCG contribution points, not counting the ghoul cores.
But he wasn't thinking about the cores anymore. If more ghouls showed up, he'd be dead.
...
Back at the battle site, a few ghouls cautiously approached after Su Xiao and Arima had left.
"Who was that new guy? He's terrifyingly strong, almost as strong as the White Reaper."
"No idea, but we need to be careful. Let's warn the kids to stay inside Center City for a while."
These ghouls were different from the primitive ones. They wore normal, if somewhat worn-out, clothing and spoke like humans.
One of them grimly surveyed the field of corpses and said, "Those unevolved beasts... There must be another breach in the wall. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten out."
"What should we do? The leader isn't in Center City right now. She's up on the surface, fighting the CCG."
The group of ghouls fell silent. In the end, they chose to leave, heading deeper into the 24th Ward.
(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.