Asura in Arknights

As the actual controller of these mycelia, this guy can't be weaker than the bait he created, right?

That was Li Ang's strongest method of imprisonment. It might be somewhat effective against ordinary people, but it was not enough against this kind of monster.

It seems the only option is to disable the other party's ability to resist first, and then try to extract information from him. However... Li Ang is not confident that he can beat him half to death.

At this moment, the mycelium that had been covering Dan's body had spread out and completely wrapped around his thin frame, making him look much stronger than before.

The outermost layer of hyphae underwent a change, solidifying into a hard carapace. The hyphae between the carapace intertwined and pieced together to form muscle-like tissue, giving Dan stronger physical abilities. His hands were also replaced by a pair of more lethal claws.

The whole person looked like they were wearing a rather unattractive suit of armor, a design that was much more pleasing to the eye than Austin's monster, which was entirely made of expanding mycelium.

The premise is to ignore the several constantly waving tentacles on the opponent's back.

Leon also found it a bit strange. Why did the Terrans always like to carry all sorts of weird things on themselves? The warlock from last time did it, and so did this enemy.

But the teachers and students in the college were perfectly normal. Was this some kind of trend he didn't understand?

"It's you? It can actually be you!?"

When Dan saw the person standing behind him, he felt an indescribable absurdity.

The person standing behind him wasn't a knight at all, but the blind man he'd met once before at that idiot Austin's house. What had been pressing against his back wasn't the staff he'd imagined, but the blind man's cane.

Anger ignited in Dan's brain at that moment, as if flames were burning his nerves.

A blind man scared him so much? Dan felt like a clown for being so frightened. He laughed angrily, "I spared your life last time, and you still dare to come and die?"

At this moment, Dan's anger completely overwhelmed his reason. He completely ignored some strange details about Li Ang, such as how Li Ang could find him before everyone else if he was really a blind man who could be manipulated by others.

Dan now only wants to slowly torture the blind man who has fooled him to death.

"I will kill you, and your corpse will become nourishment for my magic, but that won't make up for the mistakes you've made. So I will slowly crush every bone in your body." Beneath the blue armor, Dan's eyes were icy cold.

"Wow……"

Faced with Dan's threat, Li Ang opened his mouth, but after a long pause, he finally managed to utter those two words.

To be honest, this kind of threat is not convincing at all.

"If you can do it, then give it a try."

Chapter Thirty-Four Collapse

The morning sun had already risen into the sky, but even its rays could not penetrate the steep canyon.

In the darkness, this centuries-old tower is about to meet its end today—all because two uninvited guests have visited.

Stones flew up from beneath Dan's feet, and his figure vanished instantly. The entire tower trembled slightly from the impact.

The opponent was very fast, extremely fast, and the dark environment provided him with excellent cover; ordinary people could only see a series of blurry afterimages.

However, Li Ang does not rely on his vision to capture enemies. As long as his body can keep up with his brain's reaction, no matter how fast the enemy is, it makes no difference to Li Ang.

Li Ang went to meet them without fear.

clang--!!

The cane and Dan's claws collided, sparking a series of bright flashes in the darkness. Beneath Dan's carapace-covered face, an uncontrollable look of surprise appeared.

The two sides separated immediately upon contact, taking a few steps back in unison, and a smile appeared on Li Ang's face.

If the opponent's strength is only at this level, then there is no threat to Li Ang. He is no longer the same person he was a month ago. And the enemy Li Ang is facing this time may not be as strong as the tower sorcerer from last time.

"What's wrong? Is that all you've got? Where's your aura of wanting to kill me?"

While trash-talking and mocking his opponent, Li Ang was also thinking about his next move.

Through the brief exchange just now, Li Ang confirmed a fact once again.

Although the armor made of mycelium on Dan's body looks very fragile and could be shattered with a single tap, its impact resistance is actually at the maximum level.

The armor was essentially alive. When the outermost hard shell was broken, it revealed the slippery mycelium underneath, which resembled a mollusc. The impact of the blunt force was almost entirely absorbed by the wriggling mycelium—in essence, the armor was completely alive.

"..." Faced with Li Ang's provocation, Dan remained unusually silent.

His earlier mistake had calmed him down. He now clearly realized that this blind man was not a weakling he could easily manipulate, and that the man's strength was no less than his own.

However, this only fueled the anger in Dan's heart.

Since this blind man is hiding such great power, his reason for coming to Austin is also very suspicious. Even if Li Ang himself has no problems, Dan can find countless problems for him.

The mycelium-simulated muscles bulged and coalesced, and Dan's body swelled up even more as it charged toward Li Ang.

The sounds of claws clashing against the cane filled the air. Even though the claws and tentacles on his back were all blocked by the opponent, Dan continued to attack like a tireless machine.

Dan knew very well that everyone's physical strength had its limits. Although he was now on the offensive, he was only issuing commands to the mycelium, and the actual physical exertion was negligible.

The person who will give up first is definitely the other party.

Gradually, Dan felt that the opponent's blocking speed seemed to have slowed down, and the tentacles on his back had narrowly grazed the opponent's body several times.

His physical strength is almost at its limit.

Dan was instantly energized; this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

However, what appeared in his field of vision was a bright red light.

"Wave—Outburst!"

……

A hurricane suddenly arose from the top of the abandoned tower, whipping up countless pieces of debris from the ground and slamming them against the walls.

What just happened? Dan's mind went blank.

He felt his body become light, as if he had broken free from gravity and flown into the sky... In fact, he did indeed fly.

In that instant, Dan felt as if he had crashed into a land-based warship moving at high speed, and was thrown more than ten meters away without any resistance.

"Cough cough..."

The taste of blood was already in his mouth, indicating that his internal organs had suffered serious injuries.

If it weren't for the armor made of fungi on his body absorbing most of the impact, that blow would have been enough to pulverize him.

Kneeling on the ground, Dan focused all his efforts on repairing the damaged parts of the armor. After suffering several severe blows, the fungi on his body had become restless and showed a tendency to get out of control.

Who exactly is this blind man? Although the pressure he felt from this opponent was not as great as that of the knight in his memory, Dan had never encountered such a formidable enemy before.

Even with this enhanced body, it was still unable to overwhelm the opponent in terms of strength. However, in addition to his powerful physical attributes, the opponent also possessed powerful Originium Arts.

And Dan? His most prized Originium Arts is controlling fungi, the strength of which is entirely limited by the quality of the fungi themselves. This is why he seeks the power of the Witch King.

Despite using every means at his disposal, he hadn't even managed to leave a single noticeable injury on his opponent. At this point, Dan was beginning to consider retreating.

If this continues, he might die here.

As the shattered armor was gradually repaired, an overwhelming feeling of hunger suddenly surged up.

The fungus controlled by Dan is also a living organism. Biological activities naturally require a lot of nutrients. It can provide its own Originium Energy, and the fungus will also spontaneously absorb Originium Energy from the surrounding environment.

Even in the worst-case scenario, fungi can replenish their energy by decomposing corpses, so energy shortages are rare.

Subconsciously, Dan tried to mobilize the Originium energy in his body to replenish the fungus's consumption, but he was shocked to find that the Originium energy in his body had been completely depleted at some point.

Not only that, Dan was also unable to sense any source energy in the surrounding space. For some reason, this place had formed a very strange energy vacuum.

For ordinary sorcerers, this might just mean their Originium Arts are blocked, but for Dan, the lack of energy replenishment is absolutely fatal.

With no organic matter to be decomposed beneath his feet and no source energy to replenish it, the fungi within Dan's body completely lost control at this moment.

The biological instinct for survival completely overwhelmed the control of Originium Arts, and Dan's body became the best nourishment for the fungi.

He could feel the out-of-control fungus raging inside his body, breaking down his flesh and devouring his internal organs.

At this moment, his loyal heart turned to ashes.

Even if he manages to escape from here, dragging this broken body, he won't be able to control the out-of-control fungus inside him.

His lifespan had come to an end; death was only a matter of time.

At this moment, Li Ang was still unaware of what had happened to Dan. He thought that after being severely injured by the shockwave, Dan had realized the difference in strength between the two sides and was kneeling there preparing to surrender.

"Have you come to terms with reality? Okay, I have something I want to ask you."

Li Ang's voice pulled Dan back to reality. Looking at Li Ang, who had already walked up to him, a resolute madness appeared in Dan's eyes.

"Die with me!"

Dan completely released his control over the fungus, and at that moment, the fungus spread throughout the entire tower and multiplied uncontrollably, which made the already fragile abandoned tower even worse.

After all that trouble they caused, the tower, which had been abandoned for who knows how many years, finally reached its limit.

The tower is about to collapse.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Accidental Killing

Dan had long been prepared to destroy the tower to cover his escape, but he never expected it would become his final resting place.

The load-bearing columns, eroded beyond recognition by time, were simultaneously destroyed by fungi, and the entire tower collapsed like a broken set of building blocks, with the collapse occurring in just a few seconds.

A deafening roar echoed through the canyon, and billowing dust obscured the sky, turning the area into a yellowish-brown world.

After the sound gradually subsided, the tower that was over a hundred meters tall in the canyon had disappeared, leaving only a pile of rubble made up of countless broken stones. In the cracks of the rubble, there were still a large number of dried and withered fungi.

A few minutes later, a sound came from the rubble, and a hand suddenly pushed aside the top layer of stones and emerged from the rubble.

"Cough cough cough..."

While coughing violently, Li Ang pushed aside the stones around him, clearing a path for himself to get out.

It took a lot of effort for Li Ang to finally pull his lower body out of the rock.

He looked rather disheveled. Li Ang had no time to escape from the tower and could only try to gather all the nearby Originium particles while standing still and enduring the falling rocks.

Although Li Ang blocked most of the stones, the flying dust still completely engulfed his body. Now his clothes were stained with dust and turned a muddy yellow, making him look terrible.

"Bah bah bah!"

Spitting out all the dust that had flown into his mouth, Li Ang couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, what's wrong with this guy?"

Things were going quite smoothly. Li Ang never intended to kill Dan. Otherwise, after detonating the Originium particles around him and blowing him away, Li Ang could have easily followed up with a Blazing Wave Sword while Dan was still in a dazed state.

After finally managing to control his strength and beat the other person until they were unable to resist, he had no idea what had gotten into them that led them to suddenly attempt a mutual destruction.

Or is it that the other party's personality is so fierce that they would rather perish together than release the spell and surrender?

Li Ang was also seething with anger, but didn't know who to vent it on.

Looking at his clothes, Li Ang gave up on the idea of ​​brushing off the dust. He would have to wait until he got back to see if he could wash the clothes with water.

With a sigh, Li Ang turned towards a certain direction of the ruins. The guy seemed to be alive, still clinging to life.

The collapse of the abandoned tower caused quite a commotion, and Brandenburg will definitely send people to check the situation. Time is running out for Leon.

In the ruins, Li Ang found Dan, who was on the verge of death, but he looked much worse than Li Ang.

Hundreds of pounds of rubble fell from above, hitting the immobile Dan solidly. Deprived of its energy supply, the fungus was no match for the weight of the boulder, and his legs were smashed into a bloody pulp.

However, compared to the pain in my body, losing two legs doesn't seem like much.

"Kill me."

Sensing Li Ang's approach, Dan spoke calmly.

At this point, many of Dan's organs had been broken down into basic nutrients by the fungus. However, he had already achieved a certain degree of symbiosis with the fungus in his body, and was only kept alive by the fungus.

This condition won't last long; he'll still die after the fungus destroys several vital organs.

Being kept alive like this only made Dan more aware of the feeling of his body being broken down bit by bit, adding to his pain. He no longer had the strength to even understand himself.

"Are you crazy?" Li Ang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "When did I ever say I was going to kill you?"

Of course, this doesn't mean Li Ang will definitely let him go. If the fungus he planted poses any danger, Li Ang will definitely eliminate him without hesitation.

However, it seems that those fungi probably didn't have any effect at all. If they were useful, he would have used them long ago and wouldn't have ended up like this.

"Don't kill me..."

Hearing Li Ang's words, Dan mustered her last bit of strength, turned to look at Li Ang, and said, "You really don't know what you've done?"

This question stunned Li Ang. Could it be that this guy's sudden desire to die together with others was his fault?

What did he just do?

After exchanging dozens of blows with Dan, Li Ang pretended to be exhausted to lure his opponent into close combat. He then unleashed the energy from the Originium Particles with all his might, completely disabling Dan's fighting ability.

This move was named 'Wave Burst' by Li Ang. The move he used to imprison others with Originium Particles was the preparation for Wave Burst.