Chapter 45: The Line
"These ghouls are dressed really strangely."
Yuna muttered, apparently never having seen ghouls wearing such primitive attire.
"This kind of ghoul is rare in District 24?"
Su Xiao asked, seemingly casually.
"They should be rare. In the half year I've explored District 24, this is the first time I've seen ghouls dressed like this."
Yuna studied the ghouls with curiosity.
"Special Class Arima, you've explored District 24 longer. Have you seen ghouls like this?"
Arima Kishou didn't answer Yuna's question, silently stepping out from around the corner.
Vaguely, Su Xiao felt that Arima Kishou might know something.
When he first met Arima Kishou, Su Xiao had a strange feeling, as if the other party wasn't human. That kind of powerful physique could only belong to a ghoul.
But this was just Su Xiao's speculation. He had seen Arima Kishou eat human food before, and after spending a long time with him, there were no abnormalities.
Based on Arima Kishou's behavior, he couldn't be a ghoul.
Arima Kishou's physique was like a ghoul's, but his behavior was nothing like a ghoul's.
As Su Xiao pondered, Arima Kishou had already stepped out from the corner, his Quinque "Narukami" appearing.
"Narukami" was an S+ grade Quinque with three forms.
The first form was a cannon shape, capable of releasing a wide range of electrical currents.
The second form was a pincer shape, able to fire electric spheres at a distance.
The third form was a sword shape, very sturdy and suitable for close combat.
Arima Kishou was currently using the sword form.
"One each. We need to finish this quickly."
Arima Kishou looked at Su Xiao, the meaning clear.
Arima Kishou's current actions made Su Xiao even more puzzled. Those two ghouls weren't that strong; he could handle them alone.
Was he trying to test his strength? Not likely. Those two ghouls weren't strong enough to be a test.
Ever since entering District 24, Su Xiao felt something was off. There should be some secret here, and Arima Kishou might know something about it.
But he wasn't familiar with Arima Kishou, and the other party wasn't a warm-hearted person. He would have to explore on his own.
"Alright."
Su Xiao held Dragon-Slaying Flash, standing shoulder to shoulder with Arima Kishou.
The two were behind the two ghouls, who were busy fighting over food and hadn't noticed them.
Arima Kishou raised three fingers, starting a countdown.
When Arima Kishou closed his last finger, both of them quickly rushed toward the two ghouls.
During the charge, Su Xiao noticed that Arima Kishou was very fast, almost matching his own speed.
This made Su Xiao even more suspicious of Arima Kishou's human identity. His own agility was 13 points. Could an ordinary human in the ghoul world really have 13 points of agility?
After a series of hurried footsteps, Su Xiao and Arima Kishou simultaneously reached the backs of their respective targets.
Only then did the two ghouls react.
A flash of gleaming blade light, and a head with a wide-open mouth full of rotten teeth flew up.
Fast, precise, ruthless. A single decapitating slash, and Su Xiao had eliminated his target.
Looking up, he saw a headless corpse lying before Arima Kishou as well.
Yuna, watching from a distance, stared blankly at the two. She already knew Arima Kishou was powerful, but she hadn't expected Su Xiao to be this strong either.
"Damn it, how did I end up being the weakest?"
Yuna's face showed reluctance, but there was nothing she could do.
After Su Xiao killed the ghoul in front of him, Reincarnation Paradise gave a prompt.
Upon receiving the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao became even more puzzled.
What was this "Diakman Tribe"? In the plot he knew, there was no such organization.
"Pfft."
Arima Kishou cut open the back of the ghoul's corpse and extracted a kakuhou from inside.
"This kind of kakuhou is very valuable. If you want status, you can hand it over to the District 24 Information Investigation Division."
Arima Kishou spoke, taking out a bottle of clean water to rinse the blood off the kakuhou before putting it into his backpack.
Su Xiao followed Arima Kishou's example and extracted the ghoul's kakuhou. Upon contact with the kakuhou, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
Whether it was killing a primitive ghoul or extracting its kakuhou, he could earn a lot of CCG contribution points.
The contribution points gained from killing one primitive ghoul were more than ten times that of a surface ghoul.
Su Xiao didn't yet understand the reason for this. One mystery after another appeared, making District 24 seem more and more enigmatic.
Just as the three were about to continue deeper, a pair of red eyes glared at them hatefully from a distance. At the end of the passage a hundred meters away stood a ghoul.
"Not good."
Arima Kishou showed a rare expression of concern, as if he was worried about something.
That ghoul in the distance also looked like a primitive. Upon seeing the bodies of his two companions, he let out two strange cries.
"Oh~, oh~."
The primitive ghoul's cries were short and high-pitched, carrying far.
Arima Kishou changed Narukami's form to long-range.
"Bang."
A golden electric sphere shot out, hitting the ghoul squarely.
After being hit by the electric sphere, the ghoul convulsed and fell to the ground. A burnt smell wafted over as the ghoul was charred to death.
Arima Kishou's eyes behind his glasses narrowed slightly, his expression turning grim.
"Prepare for battle. Yuna, get behind me."
Arima Kishou pressed his briefcase, and his other Quinque appeared.
Quinque "Ixa," an S+ Quinque that could transform into multiple forms, a versatile weapon for both offense and defense.
"Where are the enemies?"
Su Xiao's expression was serious. Although he hadn't sensed any enemies, Arima Kishou's unusual behavior put him on alert.
"Soon..."
Before Arima Kishou could finish his sentence, Su Xiao felt a slight tremor in the ground.
"Boom~~~."
It was as if thousands of troops were charging from the passages on both sides, dust falling from the ceiling.
"Oh~, oh~, oh~..."
That strange cry came again.
From both directions in front of and behind Su Xiao, dense crowds of ghouls came charging, blocking both the way forward and the way back.
These ghouls were all dressed like primitives. Grass skirts and bone-tooth necklaces were almost standard. Some primitive ghouls even had crude patterns painted on their faces.
If you looked closely, you would see that the pattern was a bloated fish.
Pairs of bare, muscular feet stomped on the ground, raising clouds of dust as the primitive ghouls shouted and rushed forward.
"What the hell."
Su Xiao cursed under his breath. A conservative estimate put the number of primitive ghouls on both sides of the passage at over three hundred, completely surrounding them.
"Even though we haven't fought together before, let's cooperate. Otherwise, we'll all die."
Su Xiao looked at Arima Kishou, who nodded solemnly at him.
"Let's cooperate. You take the left side, I'll take the right. Don't let the ghouls surround us."
In battle, relationships could easily be forged, especially in a life-or-death crisis like this.
"Then... what should I do?"
Yuna grimaced and asked helplessly.
"Support both of us whenever needed."
Su Xiao tightened his grip on Dragon-Slaying Flash, ready to face the enemy.
"Leave it to me."
Although Su Xiao was only an Upper Class Investigator, one rank lower than Yuna, rank didn't matter now. Strength was the only thing that counted.
"Chirp chirp chirp~."
A primitive ghoul who looked like a leader let out a rapid cry. This primitive ghoul held a long section of tree root and had a few bird feathers stuck in his hair.
After this strange cry, the ghouls bared their teeth and lunged at Su Xiao, like wild beasts.
(PS: Recommending a friend's One Piece novel, "One Piece: Sword Wind Hero," it's pretty good. You guys should check it out.)