"Caw caw~~."
A flock of crows fluttered across the night sky, and perhaps feeling tired, they landed on a partially broken telephone pole. As soon as the crows settled, a loud bang erupted from below, snapping the pole and sending dust swirling into the air. The startled crows screeched and flew off in a panic.
"Cough, cough~."
A figure, dressed in tattered clothes and covered in blood, stood up from the ground.
"I told you, this kind of attack and pain have no effect on me."
Nico licked the blood from his palm, his body riddled with slash marks, and his face split down the middle. Any other ghoul would have died from such injuries, but Nico didn't care, grinning with twisted pleasure.
If one observed closely, they would notice that Nico's wounds only bled slightly, and his body no longer contained muscle—only tissues altered by his kagune. At some point, the kagune that had been trailing behind Nico had merged back into his body.
"What a strange body structure."
Su Xiao emerged from the back entrance, the moonlight casting its glow upon him. His clothes were stained with blood, though none of it was his. With Azure Steel Shadow activated, his sword Dragon Flash gleamed with a faint blue electric light, making it seem like a sword forged from lightning.
However, despite the real damage of Azure Steel Shadow, it had little effect on Nico, who seemed impervious to pain. In fact, Nico thrived on it, getting more excited the more he was hurt. Nico's bizarre joy at being slashed made fighting him particularly difficult.
Nico's body was still covered in wounds from Su Xiao's Azure Steel Shadow strikes, which dealt real damage, but his bizarre tolerance for pain and quick regeneration made him a tough opponent. Su Xiao strongly suspected that Nico's power exceeded the SS-rank classification and might even reach SS+ or SSS. Nico's regenerative ability was even more absurd than Eto's.
In terms of survival, Nico far outstripped any ghoul Su Xiao had encountered before. Yet, his combat strength was laughably low, with punches that barely connected and little real offensive capability.
Now, Su Xiao found himself at an impasse. He couldn't land a killing blow on Nico, but Nico couldn't effectively hurt Su Xiao either. Worse still, Nico's regenerative abilities made fleeing futile.
"How about it, handsome? Still want to keep going? I don't mind," Nico taunted, his face twisted into a sick smile, seemingly eager for more.
Su Xiao's lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes flashing with cold resolve.
With a sudden burst of speed, Su Xiao closed the distance between them in less than five steps. Nico wildly swung a punch, but with his low strength and poor aim, it missed by a wide margin.
"Awooo~!"
A sound like a wolf's howl echoed in the night as Su Xiao ducked to Nico's left side, delivering a powerful kick to Nico's leg. The force twisted Nico's leg unnaturally to the side, followed by Su Xiao driving Dragon Flash into Nico's spine, pinning him in place.
Taking advantage of the moment, Su Xiao grabbed Nico's chin with one hand and the top of his head with the other, twisting with all his might.
Crack.
Nico's head rotated 180 degrees, leaving his face staring upward.
Su Xiao then yanked Dragon Flash free, stepping back to observe his handiwork. Nico's lower body was mangled, one leg shattered, his spine impaled, and his head twisted grotesquely. Any other ghoul would be dead by now.
But Nico, twitching violently, let out a bizarre, trembling laugh.
"This feels so… explosive! Hahahaha~."
Clearly, Nico wasn't dead. Su Xiao glanced at Nico's health bar and couldn't help but feel exasperated. Nico still had 86% of his health left. Every attack Su Xiao had made inflicted real damage, but nothing seemed to stick.
Deciding he had wasted enough time, Su Xiao sheathed Dragon Flash at his waist and walked back toward the door. Continuing to fight Nico was pointless and exhausting. While he could kill Nico eventually, it would take far too long, and by the time he did, the battle between the CCG and Aogiri Tree would be over.
If the CCG lost, Su Xiao's hard-earned contribution points would go down the drain, and acquiring the blue-quality medicine he had been eyeing would take forever. With the main battle still ahead, overexerting himself here was not wise.
As Su Xiao walked away, Nico's body slowly began to heal itself.
"To think someone could hurt me this badly... What a terrifying man."
Nico's grin faded, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he slunk away. His nearly invincible regenerative abilities came at a cost.
Nico's body was a product of kagune and organic tissue fusion, a transformation that drastically shortened his lifespan and robbed him of the ability to reproduce. What's more, whenever Nico ate, he would lose all sense of reason, attacking anyone who came near—even friends. This aspect made him much like Noro, another ghoul with similar feral tendencies.
…
Just after entering the back entrance, Su Xiao encountered a group of ghouls wearing red cloaks—the Aogiri Tree members. There were about twenty of them, clearly retreating after luring the CCG forces into their base.
Unfortunately for them, their escape route had already been cut off.
"Who is that?"
Standing in the shadows, Su Xiao's white coat was the only thing they could vaguely make out.
"Who cares? He's human, and he's not using a quinque. Kill him."
Without hesitation, the ghouls charged at Su Xiao. Little did they know, they were running straight into death's arms.
His previous fight with Nico had left Su Xiao in a foul mood. The aggravating fight had worn on his patience.
Dragon Flash slid from its sheath, the sword glinting in the dim light as it arced through the air.
Shlick, shlick, shlick…
In a matter of seconds, Su Xiao had crossed paths with the ghouls, and five of them collapsed to the ground, their bodies spilling blood.
The remaining ghouls, now filled with terror, froze.
A beam of moonlight fell through a hole in the ceiling, illuminating Su Xiao's blood-streaked face.
"T-that's…"
One of the A-rank ghouls stammered, his entire body trembling as if standing on the frozen tundra.
"Run! We'll die if we don't!"
In a blind panic, the ghouls turned and fled, but Su Xiao's 13 points in agility made escape impossible for them.
Three minutes later, a blood-soaked arm reached out from the door, trembling in the moonlight.
"Help…"
Before the ghoul could finish his plea, Dragon Flash pierced his skull, ending his life.
Su Xiao flicked the blood from his blade before sheathing it, continuing to guard the back entrance.
During the CCG and Aogiri Tree's battle, every ghoul Su Xiao killed earned him additional contribution points. On average, each ghoul netted him around 20 CCG points.
Su Xiao stood like an iron wall, blocking the ghouls' vital escape route.
The real problem for Aogiri Tree was that the ghouls were retreating in small groups. If they tried to retreat all at once, it would have drawn too much attention from the CCG.
But instead, they fled in small groups of ten to thirty, and one after another, they fell right into Su Xiao's hands like a series of sacrifices.
Half an hour later, the area around the back entrance was littered with corpses.
(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.