Chapter 82: Berserk

"Bai Ye, there is a switch on the back of 'Arata's' neck. If you are in a desperate situation, you can press it, but remember, once you press it, you must remove 'Arata' within one minute."

The switch Yuna mentioned was the prototype state of 'Arata'. After activating that state, 'Arata' would become active and begin to devour the user's flesh and blood, while simultaneously, 'Arata's' performance would be greatly enhanced.

"Understood."

Su Xiao adapted to the armor on his body. To be honest, if the situation weren't critical, he wouldn't want to wear this thing.

Although his strength and defense increased significantly, his speed plummeted.

It was fine in narrow terrain like underground passages, but if he were to fight in other terrains, he might be kited to death by enemies.

"Roar."

An eyeless ghoul pounced over like a hunting vicious dog, its bloody maw opened to the limit, the muscles on both sides of its cheeks even tearing open.

Su Xiao stood firm in place; this heavy armor caused his fighting style to change somewhat.

This was also a helpless move. The 3-point reduction in Agility made Su Xiao less flexible, but the 3-point increase in Strength caused his slashing power to soar.

Since Agility was reduced, Su Xiao didn't waste time dodging.

Gripping the blade with both hands, Su Xiao slashed out with all his might.

This slash could be described as powerful and heavy, combining Checking Zhan Long Shan's sharpness + Qing Gang Ying + the newly added 3 points of Strength.

"Puchi."

Fresh blood erupted. Wherever Su Xiao's long blade reached, the eyeless ghouls were all severed.

The blood of the eyeless ghouls was black-red, emitting a dense, fishy stench.

In the heat of battle, Su Xiao could no longer worry about the smell; killing the enemy was the priority.

"Bang."

A special bullet grazed past Su Xiao; it was Yuna taking action, using her long-range capabilities to cover Su Xiao.

As a user of 'Arata', Yuna also had melee capabilities. Her quinque had two forms: one was a sniper rifle, and the other was a scythe.

However, the melee capabilities of Su Xiao and Arima Kisho completely crushed Yuna by dozens of blocks.

It wasn't that Yuna didn't want to use her melee capabilities, but she was too embarrassed to make a fool of herself in front of the two.

The sounds of slashing and gunfire echoed in the passage.

The eyeless ghouls didn't fear death at all; even after Su Xiao slaughtered over a dozen of them, they showed no signs of retreating.

Su Xiao beheaded an eyeless ghoul with one slash, and a tail kagune stabbed toward his chest.

He subconsciously wanted to dodge, but after the -3 Agility, his dodging movement was clearly a bit slower.

"Ding."

The tail kagune stabbed the surface of 'Arata', emitting the sound of metal clashing.

A hole the size of a finger appeared on the surface of 'Arata', and blood seeped out. Su Xiao was injured; the attack power of the eyeless ghouls was hair-raisingly strong.

Su Xiao grabbed the kagune with one hand and dragged it hard, while his right hand thrust the long blade forward, piercing the brain in one strike. The eyeless ghoul twitched a few times before dying.

Dozens of eyeless ghouls made Su Xiao feel the pressure.

Fortunately, these ghouls were within his tolerance range, and with Yuna's cooperation, he slashed continuously with his long blade, rapidly reducing the number of eyeless ghouls.

Seeing this scene, Yuna breathed a sigh of relief.

Ten minutes later, the number of eyeless ghouls was reduced to just a few.

Su Xiao's hand holding the blade trembled slightly; he was about to run out of strength.

Being surrounded by primitive ghouls earlier had consumed a large amount of his stamina, and now being surrounded by eyeless ghouls, he was reaching his limit.

Lifting his aching arm, Su Xiao slashed the last eyeless ghoul to death. A pool of blood appeared at his feet; it was his own blood.

At this moment, large amounts of severed limbs were scattered around him, and the flesh walls in the surroundings were covered in bloodstains.

"Finally over."

Yuna walked up quickly, wanting to support Su Xiao.

"Don't come over, more are coming!"

Su Xiao's expression was somewhat ugly as he looked up at the pitch-black passage ahead.

"What?"

Yuna was stunned for a moment.

"Boom, boom..."

Dense footsteps came from ahead; clearly, the battle wasn't over yet.

"Are, you, kidding, me!"

A look of despair appeared on Yuna's face.

"Yuna, can 'Arata's' prototype state overdraw stamina?"

The situation was dire to the limit, but Su Xiao didn't give up. As long as he didn't die, there was still a chance to fight.

"It can, but..."

Su Xiao ignored the rest of Yuna's words and raised his left hand to press the switch on the back of 'Arata's' neck.

"Click~."

Su Xiao, wearing 'Arata', immediately felt 'Arata' begin to change.

A blood-red light emerged on the surface of 'Arata'. 'Arata' began to become active, and the armor turned into blood-red tentacles surging.

'Arata' changed from its original blue-black to bright red, the same color as a ghoul's kagune.

"Gurgle~."

Along with the surging of 'Arata', Su Xiao felt this thing devouring his blood, even wanting to bite his flesh.

"This thing~, is truly fierce."

Three seconds later, 'Arata's' movement stopped, reappearing as a suit of dark red armor.

"Hoo~."

A black-red mist spread around Su Xiao.

"They're here!"

Su Xiao's voice was very muffled. His eyes emitted a red light; 'Arata' formed a helmet, revealing only his eyes.

Su Xiao's vision turned pale red, and his physical attributes greatly improved.

【The 'Arata' you are wearing has been activated, its state has changed. Strength +5, Agility +5, Constitution +5, lose 2% of HP per second. (Temporary state; after removing 'Arata', the buffs or debuffs will disappear.)】

Boundless power surged within his body.

Su Xiao roughly estimated the number of ghouls ahead; there were about sixty or so eyeless ghouls.

"Cover me, I'm going in!"

Su Xiao kicked the ground beneath his feet.

"Boom."

Soil splattered, and Su Xiao turned into a red shadow.

"Puchi, puchi..."

Pale blue blade light merged into one; Su Xiao charged directly into the eyeless ghouls.

At this moment, Yuna even forgot to pull the trigger of her quinque, just staring blankly.

"'Arata' is really this strong?"

Yuna shook her head, pulled the trigger, and began to provide fire support for Su Xiao.

Su Xiao's vision became redder, his heartbeat faster, while he counted silently in his heart.

30 seconds, 31 seconds, 32 seconds.

When the time reached 40 seconds, Su Xiao let out a muffled groan. 'Arata' was no longer satisfied with devouring his blood and began to bite his skin and flesh.

"Hah!"

Su Xiao slashed out his final strike, killing the five one-eyed ghouls in front of him.

After this slash, Su Xiao felt the world spinning, and a sense of weakness washed over him; he no longer had the strength to fight.

In front of him, there were still over a dozen eyeless ghouls.

Just at this critical moment, a slender figure rushed past him and blocked in front of him.

The slender figure was Yuna. Yuna held a large scythe, which rotated, slashing back an eyeless ghoul that was pouncing on Su Xiao.

"Such hard skin, Bai Ye, I need 'Arata'."

Su Xiao pressed the button on the back of his neck again, and 'Arata's' activity began to decrease.

Normally, 'Arata' should have detached from his body surface, but now 'Arata' was actually biting him and wouldn't let go.

Su Xiao stuck Checking Zhan Long Shan into the ground beside his feet and pulled at 'Arata' with both hands.

"Pala, pala~."

Several of 'Arata's' tentacles were torn off by Su Xiao; he forcibly ripped 'Arata' off.

Throwing the still-surging 'Arata' to Yuna, Su Xiao swore he would never wear this ghost thing again.

In another 20 seconds, 'Arata' would have devoured the skin and flesh on his body surface; within 1 minute, this thing would have bitten him down to a pile of white bones. ===== CHAPTER 83 =====