Chapter 32: Ultimate Buff!

Chapter 32: Ultimate Buff! Xu Tao stood right outside of the earthen wall, keeping watch over Arthur’s fight. "Guh...! You big oaf...!" And honestly, Arthur was the literal underdog. His body was now battered, filled with wounds all over. It hadn’t even been a minute yet, and he looked like he’d fall over any second! But for some weird reason, he kept standing up. His trembling legs and hands stabilized after every breath, his eyes sharply glaring at his enemy. "I... won’t fall...!" he growled like a wounded lion. "Not... until I see the goddess wearing that!" "..." Xu Tao felt exasperated. Well, motivations aside, it was good that his fighting spirit at least was not losing to the enemy. Each punch he took shook him to the bones, but he still held strong, not backing down a bit. "That guy’s a natural punching bag..." Xu Tao commented as he continued watching. "But his injuries heal rapidly with every breath... A mystery." From his long life as a cultivator, he had seen even more mysterious phenomena. And seeing how Arthur’s wounds were healing rapidly with every breath he took, he quickly realized how he was able to keep standing back up. "...It’s his sword," he muttered, noticing the secret behind Arthur’s recovery. "The sword is healing his wounds rapidly, using the golden particles of light that float around it." Having high health and automatic recovery makes for one tough wall. And just as he promised, Arthur held the enemy at bay until the right moment— BAM! The earth wall behind Xu Tao exploded—no, it was broken from within. By reflex, Xu Tao glanced behind, about to ask the person herself about her state but... "Jehanne..." Xu Tao’s eyes locked onto the woman’s figure. Curves that were hidden under her usual armor were now completely visible. A full-body leotard-like material in chocolate brown covered her from neck down, paired with a pure black rubberized suit that clung tight to her figure, mimicking a penguin-style suit. A pair of cute black bunny ears on top of her head, a headband of sorts, and high heels that looked hard to walk with. The top part almost seemed like it’d overflow with the slightest rough movement. The bottom part, her "behind" in particular, felt like it was largely lacking in surface area, cheeks peeking out. "Ugh... This is more embarrassing than I thought...!" Jehanne grumbled, her blue eyes flickering, tears threatening to burst forth. "..." But Xu Tao was lost for words... No, he was speechless. For whatever reason, just looking in Jehanne’s direction was enough to make him feel warm all over. His brain function seemed to have stalled, making his reactions delayed. "Sir Tao?" "A-Ah, right... Ahem!" He cleared his throat, averting his gaze from Jehanne. "It looks great on you. Now, go and take over Arthur’s position! I’ll provide support for your behind—no, I mean, from behind you." "Sheesh..." Jehanne blushed. "Just to tell you, girls, not limited to me, can feel which part of them a man’s gazing at..." And revealed this fact before rushing away. Xu Tao fought his inner demons, stopping himself from following the bouncy butt that was slowly fading into the distance. SLAP! He clapped his cheeks, letting the pain pull him back to his focus. "Right, we’re in the middle of a fight... I need to focus," he muttered to himself. Xu Tao didn’t delay and made a few gestures. In this battle, he couldn’t be the one to deal damage. His output as is would be largely lacking, and honestly, would just be a waste of energy. Thus, instead of attacks, he focused on support. Using Formations, in particular. "If I had a Bagua Plate, this would’ve been easier...!" Using Formations with nothing but hand gestures required extreme control and planning. Something that amateurs couldn’t even attempt. But who was he again? Right, the Great Elder of the Azure Dragon Sect! Formations with his bare hands were quite simple to him! While Xu Tao was setting formations around, Arthur had just blocked another punch with Excalibur. The sword, despite its brittle appearance, like for display only, managed to keep its shape after so many strikes. It was a testament to just how powerful that sword was. "Damn...!" he cursed as he struggled to stand back up. "You did well enough, leave the rest to me!" But then, a shadow slipped past his side. Arthur barely glanced at the figure, but all of a sudden, he felt his body become hot. He felt like he was boiling over, with his eyes locked onto the bunny girl running ahead of him. "..." For whatever reason, he couldn’t avert his gaze from Jehanne’s figure. "Goddess... The Moon Goddess has descended..." Arthur muttered in a trance... before crouching down, realizing that something else had been awoken. "The fuck is he doing?" Xu Tao, seeing Arthur’s weird reaction, could only shake his head. But in truth, the weird one wasn’t Arthur, but Xu Tao. The UR Bunny Suit not only increased Strength by 2x and Agility by 4x... It even added a flat value of 100 to Charm, a hidden stat. Charm wasn’t something you could add points to normally, as it’s the evaluation of how "attractive" one is to the opposite sex. And usually, Charm’s value is capped at 100... Then, what does adding a flat 100 points to that mean? It means Jehanne’s charm right now was literally over the roof to everyone looking at her. Thanks to the Bunny Suit, Jehanne became the most attractive person in the current world, regardless of gender or race... And the enemy monster was no exception either. "HAAAP!" Jehanne took advantage of her speed and ran to the back, before running up it, jumping up, and slamming the tip of her staff to the nape of the monster. Unlike before, which just ended up inflicting no damage at all— "Finally!" Jehanne cheered. The monster’s nape got a moderately deep wound, bleeding quite gravely. However, it was far from being fatal. "Formation activate! Grieving Wounds Formation! Ice Lotus Formation!" But right at that moment, Xu Tao finished setting two formations. Grieving Wounds Formation—a formation that gradually widens any injury inflicted to the enemy. And Ice Lotus Formation, a formation that slows the enemy using a freezing breeze, slowly freezing them over until they become like an ice lotus in the middle of winter. The combined formations created a synergistic effect which froze the blood of the wounds, allowing the frost to run through the enemy’s bloodstream. Against human opponents, this alone was fatal... But against monsters, it was an annoyance at best. "HAAP!" But Jehanne wasn’t done just yet. She waved her flag-spear countless times, creating multiple lacerations around the monster’s body. With her 4x Agility, her enemy looked like it was standing still to her. She could attack as freely as she liked without worry! The number of cuts increased from one, to ten, to a hundred, and still increasing. All of its wounds were affected by the formations, black blood freezing over. Visibly, the monster’s movements became even slower. It was losing blood, and foreign objects—ice fragments—had entered its bloodstream, injuring its veins. "Death by a thousand cuts..." Xu Tao whispered a phrase that fit the monster’s current state. GRRRR... Not even a minute after Jehanne returned, the Boss Monster let out a low growl, before falling down on its back. Its body glowed, before turning into a Loot Box magically. At the same time, notifications flooded Xu Tao’s vision. Visit freewebn(o)vel.com for the best novel reading experience