Chapter 69: This Cat Will Scratch You to Death
From the start of the battle until now, Mask had only sustained three gunshot wounds; the rest of the bullets were blocked by the outer armor of her defensive form.
“Am I deaf?”
Mask’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. This was the silent zone created by D·Assassin hitting her head, its duration depending on the environment.
Mask suddenly bent one leg, nearly dropping to one knee as a bullet embedded itself in her outer armor.
Checking the energy layer of her outer armor, only 17% remained. At most, two more shots, and her defense would be breached.
Realizing this, the outer armor on Mask’s body began to thin, and red energy lines appeared on its surface.
Hum…
Like a high-speed engine, Mask’s aura surged. The metal claws on her fingertips extended further—if before they were cat claws, now they were tiger claws.
With a loud crash, the ground beneath Mask’s feet shattered, and she vanished from her spot.
As Mask charged forward, she realized she wasn’t deaf; she had simply been inside a silent zone earlier.
Claw shadows flickered, walls shattered one after another as Mask rushed straight toward Su Xiao. She had already detected his position—about a hundred meters apart, separated by nine walls.
Su Xiao stood still, reloading a fresh magazine before raising D·Assassin.
Pfft.
One shot, the bullet flew straight at Mask’s head. Mask tilted her head, actually dodging D·Assassin’s bullet.
Pfft.
Second shot. The bullet drilled into Mask’s calf, lodging in the bone. Her forward stride faltered, and she nearly stumbled to the ground.
Pfft.
Third shot. This one entered Mask’s shoulder, piercing through the outer armor, skin, and muscle layer before exiting from her back.
At this point, Mask was about seven meters from Su Xiao. D·Assassin disappeared from his hand as he gripped the hilt of Dragon-Slaying Flash.
A blood-red claw mark appeared in front of Su Xiao as Dragon-Slaying Flash was drawn.
Ding!
Sparks flew. Dragon-Slaying Flash blocked above Su Xiao, stopping Mask’s sharp metal claws.
Mask was in an overburn state. In this state, her defense was reduced by 30%, while her strength, speed, and reaction time increased by 35%, lasting 15 minutes.
With a screech, Mask’s metal claws scraped across the blade, tilting it. Her left leg bent, body leaning left, and her right leg whipped toward Su Xiao’s head like a scythe.
Mask’s hand strength was considerable; the claws scraping across the blade pushed Dragon-Slaying Flash aside, preventing Su Xiao from using the sword to block her side kick.
Su Xiao didn’t even look at Mask’s incoming right leg. He kept his eyes fixed on her head and torso, relying on his instinct ability to track her attacks.
Mask’s right leg came in. Su Xiao bent his left arm, wrapping an energy shield layer around his elbow.
Bang!
Su Xiao’s elbow collided with Mask’s shin. Fragments of the broken energy shield scattered, and pain twisted Mask’s face as her entire right leg went numb.
While shoving aside the whip kick, Su Xiao reached forward with his left hand and grabbed Mask’s calf.
“Burn!”
Boom!
Flames engulfed both Su Xiao and Mask.
Crack, crack, crack…
The energy shield layer wrapped around Su Xiao’s left side, rapidly absorbing the nearby heat. When the shield layer turned completely red-hot, it shattered, preventing the searing heat from burning Su Xiao’s skin.
Both Su Xiao and Mask flew backward. Midair, Su Xiao slashed the air a few times, sending out blade auras.
Mask clearly didn’t understand this move, so she crossed her arms in front of her.
Blood sprayed. With her defense drastically reduced, Mask couldn’t block the blade auras. Deep, bone-reaching wounds appeared on her arms.
“Meow!”
A cat cry came from Su Xiao’s direction.
A phantom cat materialized in front of Su Xiao, clawing at his face and head relentlessly.
Su Xiao raised his arm to block, but scratches appeared on his cheek and arm.
[Prompt: You are under attack from Void Cat. Charm attribute check in progress…]
Seeing this check, Su Xiao’s heart sank. If it were any other attribute check, he wouldn’t worry, but charm attribute…
[Check failed. You are overwhelmed by the enemy’s charm attribute.]
[You are affected by ‘Night Cat’s Charm.’ Willpower -10 points (resisted). Physical defense -20%. Unable to use all active skills for 15 seconds.]
[Warning: Due to charm attribute suppression, abnormal debuff effects are greatly increased. Physical defense -38%. Unable to use all active skills for 30 seconds.]
…
Mask seemed to receive a prompt too. She was stunned for a moment, then a smile spread across her face.
“You’re finished.”
Mask chuckled softly, lunging straight at Su Xiao, killing intent boiling in her eyes.
Thirty seconds later.
Bang!
Mask, covered in slash marks, flew backward, crashing through a wall.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Mask coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, one hand clutching her abdomen to keep her intestines from spilling out.
“What the hell, are you kidding me?!”
Mask spat out a bloody wad of saliva. In the past thirty seconds, she had been astonished to find that whether the enemy could use active skills or not made almost no difference. His slashes were still razor-sharp, drawing blood with every strike.
In truth, aside from the active abilities attached to his equipment, the only active skill Su Xiao used in combat was Azure Steel Shadow.
Thirty seconds without active skills seemed terrifying, but for Su Xiao, it just meant no Azure Steel Shadow for that time. Compared to that, the defense reduction was actually more troublesome.
Blood dripped from Su Xiao’s fingertips. Without Azure Steel Shadow, he couldn’t use energy shields, and during this time, the enemy had indeed scratched him up badly. Combined with the reduced physical defense, it was even worse.
Fortunately, Su Xiao’s survivability was high enough, and with his numerous passive abilities supporting his blade techniques, Mask had been thoroughly schooled to the point of questioning her existence.
If Mask’s opponent had been a mage or a regular contractor, she would have been king during those thirty seconds. Unfortunately, Su Xiao didn’t rely much on active abilities.
“Bullying a cat too much! This cat is angry now.”
Mask stood up, glaring at Su Xiao with fierce intensity.
“Meow!!!”
A terrifyingly high-decibel cat cry spread out, layers of sound waves radiating from Mask.
Crack, crack, crack…
All the glass within a three-hundred-meter radius shattered from that meow. The sound carried across at least half of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Clearly, Mask was calling for backup after being outmatched. With that meow, unless the other lone wolves had water in their brains, they would know something was happening here.
Su Xiao covered one ear with his hand. Being closest to the sound, he could imagine the intensity of the sonic impact.
Not far away, Bubu Wang, who had been hiding there, covered his ears with both paws.
“Awoo~”
Bubu let out a howl, trying to overpower the cat cry, but to no avail. If Bubu Wang could talk, he would say: “This dog hates cat people, especially the ones that meow really loud.”
A few seconds later, the cat cry stopped.
With a crash, concrete debris fell from the ceiling. The room where Su Xiao and Mask stood had walls covered in cracks.
“I suggest you run now.”
Mask smiled, a hint of schadenfreude in her tone.
Su Xiao’s eyes narrowed as the ringing in his ears faded.
Seeing Su Xiao’s ferocious gaze, the smile on Mask’s face froze. She… seemed to have completely enraged her enemy.