Chapter 50: Frenzy
"Bai Ye, there's a switch on the back of the neck of 'New.' If it comes down to a last resort, you can press it, but remember, once you press it, you must take off 'New' within one minute."
The switch Una mentioned referred to 'New's' original form. Once that state was activated, 'New' would become active and begin to devour the user's flesh and blood, while simultaneously its performance would greatly increase.
"Understood."
Su Xiao adjusted to the armor on his body. To be honest, if the situation weren't so dire, he wouldn't want to wear this thing.
Although his strength and defense had increased considerably, his speed had plummeted.
It was fine in narrow terrain like the underground passage, but if he fought in other terrain, he might be kited to death by enemies.
"Roar."
A blind Ghoul pounced, like a rabid dog hunting prey, its bloody maw stretched to the limit, the muscles on both sides of its face even tearing.
Su Xiao stood his ground. This heavy armor had changed his fighting style somewhat.
This was a helpless move. The 3-point decrease in Agility made Su Xiao less nimble, while the 3-point increase in Strength sharply boosted his slashing power.
Since his Agility was reduced, Su Xiao didn't bother wasting time dodging.
Gripping his blade with both hands, Su Xiao slashed with all his might.
This slash was incredibly powerful—the sharpness of Dragon-Slaying Flash + Azure Steel Shadow + the newly added 3 points of Strength.
"Pfft."
Blood burst forth. Wherever Su Xiao's long blade reached, the blind Ghouls were all severed.
The blood of the blind Ghouls was black-red, emitting a strong stench.
In the heat of battle, Su Xiao couldn't care about the surrounding smell; killing the enemy came first.
"Bang."
A special bullet whizzed past Su Xiao. It was Una, using her ranged ability to cover him.
As the user of 'New,' Una also had melee capabilities. Her Koukaku had two forms: one was a sniper rifle, and the other was a scythe.
However, both Su Xiao and Arima Kishou's melee skills completely outclassed Una by several streets.
It wasn't that Una didn't want to use melee combat; she just didn't want to embarrass herself in front of them.
...
The sounds of slashing and gunfire echoed through the passage.
The blind Ghouls had no fear of death. Even after Su Xiao killed over a dozen of them, they showed no sign of retreat.
Su Xiao decapitated a blind Ghoul with one slash, and a tail-like kagune stabbed toward his chest.
He instinctively tried to dodge, but after the -3 Agility, his evasive movement was noticeably slower.
"Ding."
The tail-like kagune struck the surface of 'New,' producing a metallic clang.
A finger-sized hole appeared on the surface of 'New,' and blood seeped out. Su Xiao was injured. The attack power of the blind Ghouls was appalling.
Su Xiao grabbed the kagune with one hand, yanked it forcefully, and thrust his long blade forward with his right hand, piercing its brain. The blind Ghoul twitched a few times before dying.
Several dozen blind Ghouls put Su Xiao under pressure.
Fortunately, these Ghouls were within his limits, and with Una's cooperation, he slashed continuously with his long blade, rapidly reducing their numbers.
Seeing this, Una breathed a sigh of relief.
Ten minutes later, the number of blind Ghouls was reduced to just a few.
Su Xiao's hand holding the blade trembled slightly. He was nearly exhausted.
Being surrounded by the primitive Ghouls earlier had drained a lot of his stamina, and now, besieged by blind Ghouls, he was reaching his limit.
Raising his aching arm, Su Xiao killed the last blind Ghoul with a single slash. A pool of blood appeared at his feet—his own blood.
Around him, large pieces of severed limbs were scattered, and the fleshy walls were covered in bloodstains.
"Finally over."
Una quickly stepped forward, intending to support Su Xiao.
"Don't come over. More are coming!"
Su Xiao's expression turned grim as he looked up at the dark passage ahead.
"What?"
Una was stunned.
"Boom, boom..."
Dense footsteps came from ahead. Clearly, the battle wasn't over.
"Are you kidding me!"
Despair appeared on Una's face.
"Una, can 'New's' original state drain stamina?"
The situation was dire to the extreme, but Su Xiao hadn't given up. As long as he wasn't dead, there was still a chance to fight.
"It can, but..."
Su Xiao ignored the rest of Una's words. He raised his left hand and pressed the switch on the back of 'New's' neck.
"Click~."
Wearing 'New,' Su Xiao immediately felt it begin to change.
A blood-red glow appeared on the surface of 'New,' and it started to become active. The armor turned into surging blood-red tentacles.
'New' changed from its original blue-black color to a vivid red, the same color as a Ghoul's kagune.
"Gurgle~."
As 'New' surged, Su Xiao felt it devouring his blood, even trying to tear at his flesh.
"This thing... is really ferocious."
Three seconds later, 'New's' activity ceased, reforming into a dark red suit of armor.
"Whoosh~."
A cloud of black-red mist spread around Su Xiao.
"Here they come!"
Su Xiao's voice was very deep. His eyes glowed red. 'New' had formed a helmet, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Su Xiao's vision turned reddish, and his physical attributes greatly increased.
[The 'New' you are wearing has become active. Status changed: Strength +5, Agility +5, Constitution +5. Lose 2% of Health Points per second. (Temporary status. After removing 'New,' the buffs or debuffs disappear.)]
A surge of power welled up inside him.
Su Xiao roughly estimated the number of Ghouls ahead—about sixty or more blind Ghouls.
"Cover me. I'm going in!"
Su Xiao stomped the ground.
"Boom."
Mud flew into the air as Su Xiao turned into a red blur.
"Pfft, pfft..."
Pale blue blade auras formed a continuous line as Su Xiao charged straight into the blind Ghouls.
At that moment, Una even forgot to pull the trigger of her Koukaku, just staring blankly.
"Is 'New' really this strong?"
Una shook her head, pulled the trigger, and began providing fire support for Su Xiao.
Su Xiao's vision grew redder, his heartbeat faster, and he silently counted in his mind.
30 seconds, 31 seconds, 32 seconds.
When the time reached 40 seconds, Su Xiao grunted. 'New' was no longer satisfied with devouring his blood; it began to tear at his flesh.
"Ha!"
Su Xiao delivered his final slash, killing the five one-eyed Ghouls in front of him.
After that slash, Su Xiao felt a dizzying spin. A wave of weakness washed over him, and he could no longer fight.
Before him, there were still over a dozen blind Ghouls.
At this critical moment, a slender figure rushed past him, standing in front of him.
The slender figure was Una. She wielded a large scythe, spinning it to repel a blind Ghoul lunging at Su Xiao.
"Such tough hide. Bai Ye, I need 'New.'"
Su Xiao pressed the button on the back of his neck again. 'New's' activity began to decrease.
Normally, 'New' should have detached from his body, but now it was clinging to him, refusing to let go.
Su Xiao stabbed Dragon-Slaying Flash into the ground beside him and grabbed 'New' with both hands, pulling hard.
"Rip, rip~."
Several of 'New's' tentacles were torn off by Su Xiao as he forcibly ripped it off.
Throwing the still-surging 'New' to Una, Su Xiao swore he would never wear that damn thing again.
In another 20 seconds, 'New' would have devoured all the flesh on his body's surface. Within a minute, it would have torn him into a pile of bones.