Asura in Arknights

The recoil from the hammer made Li Ang's right hand go numb, but even so, he only managed to chip off a small piece of scrap from the ore.

It wasn't that Li Ang lacked strength, but rather that he suspected that before he could break the stone, the hammer in his hand and the table underneath would be the first to give way.

When Adele came to her senses and saw this scene, she knew that her idea could not be realized. She knew very well how strong Leon was.

"Ugh...it seems I'll have to go to the professor and ask him for help," Adele said, somewhat dejectedly.

Adele completed all the initial parts of her paper independently, but she still encountered some problems in the end. Although asking the professor for help would not lower Adele's evaluation, the feeling of failing at the last minute made Adele very disappointed.

Adele wanted to put the sample away, but Leon stopped her. "Don't rush, let me try again."

"All right……"

After thinking for a moment, Adele seemed to have no reason to refuse. "But let's make it clear first, you can't use fire magic to destroy the sample. You can only destroy it physically. I just need to be able to observe the cross-section of the sample in the end."

“No problem, I don’t use fire,” Li Ang replied confidently.

Previously, in order to solve the problem of Originium Particle consumption, Li Ang had considered using compression to solve this problem.

However, after compressing the Originium Particles to about half their original size, Li Ang could no longer compress them further, and this level of compression was far from meeting Li Ang's requirements.

Li Ang felt that he might need to find a new way to solve the problem he was facing.

However, these Originium particles compressed to half their original size also gave Li Ang a new way to attack. The principle is similar to a high-pressure water jet, but instead of water, high-pressure gas is propelled by Originium particles.

Could this be considered sword energy...? Li Ang couldn't say for sure, since he didn't know what sword energy was.

"Adele, move a little further away. I'm not quite in control of this spell yet."

"Okay, I understand." Adele nodded and took two steps back.

Li Ang then adjusted the position of the sample on the table, pointing it at the open window not far away. He dared not use this method on the ground, as it would be troublesome if he made a big hole in Adele's floor.

After preparations were complete, Li Ang activated a compressed ring of Originium microparticles.

In that instant, a gentle breeze swept through Adele's room. Sunlight, passing through the high-density, high-pressure airflow, refracted into rainbow-like light. A streak of iridescent light flashed from Li Ang's hand, swept across the sample on the table at an extremely fast speed, and finally rushed out of the window, disappearing into the horizon.

The sample on the table was neatly split in two and slid off the table.

Li Ang was fairly satisfied with the power of this move. Although it lacked speed due to resistance, the powerful cutting ability made up for this deficiency to some extent, so it was still acceptable.

"All done, Adele, is this okay?"

Adele stepped forward, looked at the texture on the smooth cross-section of the raw ore sample, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. She gently patted her chest and said, "Now, I'm fully prepared for tomorrow's defense."

"Wow, the defense is tomorrow..."

Upon hearing Adele's words, a faint sense of realization dawned on Li Ang's mind.

So much time has passed already? Tomorrow is Adele's thesis defense. Although the Naumanns can't come back at this time, they will definitely be able to get back before Adele's graduation ceremony.

Does that mean he only has a few days left to stay here?

Time really flies...

He sighed softly, and when Li Ang looked up, he had already put on a smiling expression. "Then I wish you all the best in advance."

"Thanks……"

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. Adele, do you have any suitable containers here?"

As he spoke, under Adele's wide eyes, Li Ang took out the root that he had casually removed earlier.

"I want to keep this thing."

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As night slowly fell, a group of mysterious sorcerers dressed in black robes suddenly appeared in the East District.

Chapter Thirty: The Surprise Attack

This was a group of about one hundred people, all shrouded in black robes.

Upon arriving at the apartment building, they quickly dispersed into more than a dozen small teams of varying sizes and entered the apartment building one after another.

During this process, these people made no sound, there were no footsteps, no conversations between them, and even their breathing was drowned out by the subtle noises of the environment.

They were as quiet as a group of ghosts that did not exist in this world.

In the distance, the military police had cordoned off the entire block, and no one was allowed to enter the area.

After entering the apartment building, the men in black robes began to disperse to the door of each resident's home.

After assigning goals to everyone, the man in black knocked on the door in front of him.

Surprisingly, the knocking sound was contained to a very small area, so much so that even people standing right next to it couldn't hear it.

"Who is it? What do you want so late?"

From inside the door, the voice of an old woman could be heard in the distance, approaching the doorway.

Just as the old lady was about to reach the door, the man in black robes suddenly pulled, opening the door without warning.

"you……"

The old woman only managed to utter one word before her throat was blocked by some unknown force, preventing her from making a sound.

Looking at the black-robed, masked man before her, the old woman's eyes were filled with terror.

Shh, don't make a sound.

The masked man held his index finger up to his eyes and said in a low voice, "We are the sorcerer guard sent by the Tower. We are on an emergency mission here and all of you need to evacuate this apartment building."

"Now, those of you who are with us, go out. Once we leave this place, the effects of my spell will automatically dissipate."

"Did you understand?"

The old woman nodded hurriedly, the fear in her eyes showing no sign of abating. Who knew if what these people were saying was true?

But what can she do now? She has no power to resist and can only obediently do as the other party says.

The same thing happened in every room of the apartment building, but it avoided the house in the very center.

This group, calling themselves the Tower Warlock Guard, displayed astonishing efficiency, evacuating all hundreds of residents from the apartment building in less than ten minutes, all without making a sound under the cover of some kind of Originium Arts.

Even after the residents were brought out, they were surprised to find that they were not the only ones who had been taken away.

After all the residents had evacuated, fewer than ten men in black robes remained in the apartment.

These people were not all combatants. In the confined space inside the building, too many combatants would only be a hindrance. Therefore, only the most elite group of tower sorcerers were selected to prepare for the next assault on the suspect's residence.

Apart from these few people, the rest were logistics personnel for this mission. They were responsible for evacuating residents near the battlefield to safe locations and limiting the affected area to this apartment building.

After leaving the apartment, the logistics personnel did not leave. Instead, they took out many parts from their bodies and assembled them into delicate magical devices downstairs.

Those magical devices are somewhat similar to city defense spell generators. This autonomous spellcasting device, called the 'L-44 Phonograph,' was only recently deployed throughout Letania. However, in reality, the L-44 Phonograph is simply a product that the Tower has phased out.

Enormous in size and impossible to carry, the Warlock Guard is now equipped with magical devices that are countless times more dangerous than these 'civilian devices'. Anyone who steps out of this building will be burned to ashes by the brilliance of the magic.

These logistics personnel are just the first layer of insurance.

This incident... is somewhat unusual. In the worst-case scenario, the council was even prepared to abandon the relocated plot of land.

Upon receiving the signal that the logistics troops outside were ready, the captain of the warlock guard, who had been waiting at the apartment entrance for a long time, made a gesture to his members and gave the order to begin the operation.

The team member nodded, then walked to the apartment door, knocked, and called out loudly, "Mr. Austin, are you there? I'm a staff member from the apartment management office. We need your cooperation on some work-related matters."

This is Brandenburg, the capital of Letania, the residence of the twin queens, and can be considered the capital of Letania in every sense.

Such a serious accident happened at William University this morning, and more than ten hours have passed. Even a pig should have realized what happened by now.

Clearly, the tower responsible for the defense of Brandenburg wasn't that foolish.

They quickly traced the clues found in William University Library and found the impoverished nobleman from Victoria. Even the recent theft might be related to him.

But... everything went too smoothly, so smoothly that it made people suspect that it was a trap, deliberately luring them to investigate.

But even if this were a trap, they couldn't ignore what was happening here—the unknown plant discovered at William University originated from this very room.

No sooner had the team member finished speaking than a hoarse roar came from inside the room, "Get out of here! How many times have I told you not to bother me!"

Even through a door, you could hear just how angry the person inside was.

A cold glint flashed in the captain's eyes. The results of the spell were real; there was no sign of life in the room... So, what exactly was that voice that had just spoken?

Fortunately, before entering the room, they did their usual practice of testing the suspect's reaction inside.

Without him needing to say anything more, the others in the team realized this as well, and a faint light began to emanate from the tips of the standard-issue staffs in each of their hands.

The team member standing at the door raised a huge stone shield, completely covering his front, while saying, "But Mr. Austin, some residents nearby have complained that you've been making too much noise these past few days, disturbing their rest."

"This... I hope you can pay more attention in the future, otherwise it will be very difficult for us to do our job..."

【attack!】

The captain waved his hand, signaling a frontal breakthrough.

The team member who had raised the shield suddenly pushed off backward, and the force that burst from his feet smashed through the thin wooden door in front of him, and rushed directly into the room.

Under his cover, the brilliance of the spells cast by the other sorcerers behind him grew even more dazzling, and there were even signs that they were merging together.

"boom--"

The destructive white light that shot out once again illuminated the dark night sky.

Chapter Thirty-One: Choice

It's 10:30 p.m. At this time, most of the Letanians, who don't usually go out at night, are already in bed, but Leon doesn't have the habit of resting this early.

For Li Ang now, there is no difference between night and day. The reason he still maintains his previous routine is simply for the sake of his health.

In the quiet of the night, when he is undisturbed, Li Ang often lets his mind go blank, allowing his brain, which has been working at high speed all day, to rest.

On the table next to Li Ang was a small glass bottle containing that small piece of root.

After a period of research, Li Ang discovered that this thing was not the root of a plant at all, but a kind of fungus composed of countless finer hyphae, which only looked somewhat like plant roots and stems.

These mycelia exhibit a certain degree of thermotropism, which is why they instinctively move closer to the human body.

Li Ang tried adding a little water to the bottle, and the small section of mycelium multiplied at an astonishing rate, covering the glass bottle with a thin layer within a few hours.

Such a rapid growth rate alerted Li Ang, and sure enough, he also found a small amount of this fungus in the water pipes of Nauman's villa. The entire William University uses the same water supply system, and there was no reason why this place would be spared if the library had an accident.

However, perhaps because the villa is mostly unoccupied, the mycelium did not grow in this direction.

The good news is that these mycelia are not harmful to humans, otherwise they wouldn't have grown to this extent before being discovered. Like most organisms, Li Ang simply heated the water in the pipe slightly, which caused the mycelia to lose their activity.

The research has reached this point, which is sufficient. Li Ang's curiosity has been satisfied, and how to handle the aftermath is something that the council hall and the tower should consider. The sample in the bottle is no longer of use to him.

When Adele took this thing out during the day, she reacted very strongly. She grabbed the staff next to her and hit Li Ang on the head several times. Afterwards, Li Ang apologized for a long time before Adele angrily found him a glass bottle.

It would be best to get rid of this thing as soon as possible.

Just as Li Ang was about to destroy the sample in the bottle, a bright light suddenly appeared in the world outside his perception range.

Li Ang is extremely sensitive to the energy reaction of Originium. Under the effect of wave perception, he can directly 'see' this phenomenon. The Originium energy reaction just now was so intense, like the sun in the darkness. Even outside the range of perception, Li Ang could not ignore its existence.

"What was that just now...?"

Could it be that someone had a moment of madness and unleashed a large-scale Originium Arts technique in the city? If they get caught by the Tower, wouldn't they be doomed?

After casually burning the fungus in the bottle, Li Ang thought for a moment and then took out a device shaped like a hollow pyramid from the table drawer.

It is known as the Slayne Directional Structure in modern Originium Arts. After being miniaturized, it is used in various casting units. The one that Li Ang is holding is a prototype, which is the product of one of his homework assignments.

This device can guide the direction of spells, but its drawback is that it requires extremely high control. If the control is not strong enough, the spell will simply be fired in one direction without any guidance.

Of course, this posed no difficulty for Li Ang. Through this device, he could greatly enhance his perception range in a single direction at the cost of losing perception in other directions.

Li Ang could do this without the device, but it was obviously far less effective than using the device.

As the sensory fluctuations surged into the device in his hand, the surrounding world returned to that terrifying void.

Li Ang could feel his vision rapidly shifting into the distance, and the energy reaction in the distance not only did not disappear, but instead gradually increased at a slow pace.

However, when Li Ang's perception expanded to the location where the energy reaction occurred, he was stunned.

To be honest, even if Li Ang had discovered that the bombed place was the council chamber, he wouldn't have been as surprised as he is now.

But why...?

Why that particular place of all?

Li Ang never imagined that he would be involved in this matter in such a strange way. Li Ang was very familiar with the place where the energy reaction occurred; he had just retrieved a volcanic rock sample from there not long ago.

But now, in Li Ang's perception, the scene he had seen before had turned into ruins. A squad of sorcerers was fighting a huge humanoid creature, and the continuous energy reaction was the aftershock of the battle between the two sides.

By the time Li Ang discovered this place, the battle was already drawing to a close.