Asura in Arknights

"Forget it, let me personally confirm the specific effects."

The bones that had fallen to the ground suddenly lost their support and scattered all over the ground with a clatter.

Instead, a dim shadow appeared there.

Chapter 84 Battle of Souls

It's the same shadow that followed Li Ang before. Has Adams taken out his own soul?

Didn't he know that Li Ang could destroy souls? Without the protection of a body, actively exposing one's soul is no different from seeking death. Just as Li Ang was feeling puzzled, Adams quickly showed him the reasons for doing so.

Countless figures of various shapes and sizes surged out from Adams's back, filling the remaining space almost instantly.

The sheer number sent a chill down Li Ang's spine. A single figure had been troublesome enough before, but how many were there now, this densely packed mass? Fifty? A hundred?

The combined strength of these figures is enough to sweep away some small countries. Not everyone can possess a means to directly attack the soul like Li Ang.

If Adams possessed such power, why would he remain holed up in Kazimir? Compared to those great powers, Kazimir was merely a remote and impoverished area.

Unless... his spells have a fatal flaw.

Li Ang thought of Adams's previous operation of actively overloading the core reactor... Yes, maintaining so many people at the same time must be a considerable drain on Adams, unless it is in a specific environment.

The current situation can be resolved by destroying the reactor or leaving this place.

But the dilemma Li Ang is currently facing is that Adams obviously has no intention of giving up the terrain that is advantageous to him, and the commotion he has caused is quite significant. Apart from the two of them, there are no other survivors in this building. If Adams is arrested by the SEC, Li Ang doesn't know if he will still be able to find a chance to rescue Ryan.

Therefore... this is Li Ang's only chance.

"They...are the people you killed?"

Li Ang wanted to find Rein's whereabouts among these figures, but souls obviously do not have a collision volume. No matter how many souls there are, they can be piled up in a small corner. Countless similar auras are mixed together. If Li Ang wanted to distinguish them one by one, it would take a long time. But Adams obviously wouldn't just watch him do that.

"How can you say it was caused by someone?"

As a researcher with professional ethics, Adams was immediately displeased and retorted, "Isn't all of this the result of their own choices?"

"They crave money, power, and authority... their hearts are filled with all sorts of desires, and I have merely offered them a tiny, insignificant opportunity."

"I made the side effects of the drug crystal clear to them from the very beginning. How can their deaths be blamed on me?"

"Let's face reality, this is human nature!"

As Adams said, human nature is indeed like this; it cannot withstand many tests. Often, just a little bit of temptation can lead a person into the abyss. Brothers quarrel and spouses turn against each other. In that era of information explosion, how many such examples did Li Ang see?

But, but...

"And what right do you have to test other people's humanity?"

What did Adams consider himself? A god sitting high on the clouds, looking down on all living beings? He merely used human weaknesses to wantonly toy with the lives of others.

Besides the methods he had thought of before, Li Ang had one more option left—to kill Adams, the mastermind behind all of this.

The surging killing intent spread outwards with Li Ang's will. Before those souls could even get close to Li Ang, they were like mist blown away by the wind, their forms instantly dimming.

Since his most reliable short sword is unusable, Li Ang can only make do with his cane for now. However, no matter how hard the cane is made of, it cannot change its inherent nature; it is not suitable for carrying Originium energy.

Forcibly compressing Originium energy into the cane can easily disperse souls weakened by the killing intent fluctuations, but this also puts a heavy burden on the cane. After only eliminating a few controlled souls, the cane was already burning red-hot, and the hottest parts even showed signs of melting.

"Okay, I admit I underestimated you, but how long can you maintain this state?"

Adams's figure flickered amidst the crowd, constantly commanding the souls he controlled to rush forward and die. Li Ang struggled to penetrate the barrier of these souls and injure Adams, who was at the deepest level.

"Killing you is enough."

"Really?"

"But before you can hurt me, how many innocent people's blood will you have on your hands?" Adams's vicious voice kept coming from behind the figure, trying to shake Li Ang's will in this way. "Didn't you say you were not the same kind of person as me? Look at what you're doing now, how is it any different from what I'm doing?"

“I gave them power, I gave them wealth, I gave them status, and what did you do? You destroyed their last hope with your own hands.”

"I wasn't the one who killed them; it was your twisted plan."

Li Ang remained completely unmoved; he was long past the age of being fooled by such rhetoric. "What I'm doing now is simply freeing these poor people from your control."

Perhaps it was an illusion, or perhaps it was a subconscious attempt to comfort himself, but Li Ang always felt that these souls cast grateful glances at him before they dissipated.

Being controlled by someone like Adams is worse than simply dying. However, Adams can completely control the will of these people, so they probably won't even have the slightest thought of resistance. Dying now is truly for their benefit.

Therefore, Li Ang had no psychological burden when he started to strike. In just a few minutes, Li Ang swept away the souls of nearly a hundred people like autumn leaves in the wind.

God knows how many people Adams, that heartless madman, has killed over the past few centuries. Even if we calculate it as one person per month, that's more than three thousand souls, and the number he killed is certainly much higher.

"Have you ever thought that some of them are still alive, just lying in hospital beds for a long time without waking up, their wives are still taking care of their unconscious husbands every day, and their fathers are still waiting for them to come back, while you... have personally destroyed the last hope of a family."

"..."

It must be admitted that Adams' pretentious manner easily provoked the anger of others.

"In that case, for the sake of those who might be harmed by you in the future, I must kill you now."

The Originium energy on the cane had reached its limit, transforming into a rainbow-colored arc of light nearly three meters high. All the souls blocking the arc of light vanished in the blink of an eye, and a wide passage was cleared out of the originally crowded room.

At the end of the passage was Adams, mingling among those souls.

"Got you."

Seeing Li Ang rushing towards him, Adams showed no panic whatsoever; instead, he revealed a smug smile.

"It's me who found you."

At this moment, Adams also revealed his trump card.

He took a step back, and a soul emerged from the side, blocking his way.

[Li Ang?]

A familiar voice came from there.

Chapter 85 Desperate Counterattack

It's Rennes.

Li Ang's hands paused involuntarily, and even the killing intent emanating from his domain subconsciously receded to his side.

Oops……

The moment Li Ang hesitated, he realized something was wrong. Adams had taken out Rein's soul at this time, clearly for this effect. This brief pause was enough to do a lot.

Four alloy walls rose from the ground, sealing off Li Ang's living space.

However, those souls were not hindered by such physical barriers at all. Under Adams' control, they passed through the walls and surged toward Li Ang one after another.

In this desperate act of mutual destruction, these souls were finally able to get close to Li Ang and touch his body for the first time.

When Li Ang smashed the wall and regained his mobility, it was already too late. The parts that had been touched by the soul were ice-cold, as if they no longer belonged to him, and he had completely lost all feeling.

Countless souls passed through Li Ang's body. To ensure he was completely incapacitated, Adams even used lightning magic to paralyze his muscles. Now, Li Ang could only maintain a kneeling position on the ground, unable to move an inch.

“I have won, young apostle. You still have much to learn.” Adams’s soft laughter came from behind. “Well then, let’s begin. Since you’re unwilling, I’ll do it myself.”

Li Ang only felt something foreign pierce his body from behind, but he did not feel any pain. However, his body suddenly moved uncontrollably. He slowly stood up from the ground with very stiff movements, and even let go of the cane in his hand and kicked it far away.

Adams... he actually dared to do that?

Li Ang had also wondered what Adams meant by "taking matters into his own hands." Did he mean to restrict Li Ang's movements and stuff the piece of divine remains directly into Li Ang's mouth, or would he use some other method?

Unexpectedly, Adams chose the simplest, and also the worst, method for him—to take control of Leon's body and "do it himself" to complete the experiment.

Adams can possess other people's bodies, and seizing control is not difficult for him, but... this also means that his physical body and his soul appeared in front of Li Ang without any defense.

That's why he had to disarm Li Ang immediately.

Having lost his weapon, his muscles paralyzed by lightning, and his mind assaulted by countless souls, what kind of counterattack could Li Ang possibly mount under these circumstances? That's why Adams appeared confidently behind Li Ang.

Adams overlooked one thing: the killing intent fluctuation didn't require constructing a spellcasting unit. As long as Li Ang had a thought, he could instantly cover a range of three meters around him, or... he simply didn't detect the existence of the killing intent fluctuation.

There was no energy reaction, no light or shadow effects; only by personally entering the range of the killing intent fluctuations could one sense the existence of this area, and Adams clearly didn't dare to approach Li Ang's vicinity.

This is the most unusual ability that Li Ang possesses; perhaps this is the 'power' that Adams mentioned... As the name suggests, this is an ability that only gods can possess.

When Li Ang realized his mistake, he quickly devised a counterattack strategy.

Li Ang may not care about other people's souls, but if Adams continues to use Raine's soul as a shield, Li Ang will not be able to bring himself to destroy Raine and Adams together.

So before Adams could command the souls to rush over, Li Ang had already suppressed his killing intent, offering only symbolic resistance before allowing Adams to take control of him.

Even if he didn't understand the specific principles behind the killing intent fluctuations, it didn't stop Li Ang from using them as a means of defending against enemies.

Although this description may not be entirely accurate, after a few attempts, Li Ang realized that, much like a skill in a game, the total damage that Killing Intent Wave can cause is fixed. The farther away the enemy is and the more enemies are attacked at the same time, the weaker the power of Killing Intent Wave becomes.

In other words, Li Ang can only unleash the strongest power of his killing intent fluctuations when he is facing an enemy at point-blank range.

"...Although I haven't taken the previous medication, I think there shouldn't be any problems."

Adams floated behind Li Ang like a ghost.

After taking Li Ang under control, Adams was no longer in such a hurry. Now, instead of starting the experiment, Adams stayed put, thinking about the next plan.

"However, now is not the time to start the experiment. The Securities and Futures Commission has already taken notice of this place and will send people to seal it off soon."

"It seems... we have no choice but to abandon Pol Pharmaceuticals."

Adams didn't seem to care at all about losing the industry he had built up over hundreds of years. For someone like him, nothing was irreplaceable.

Anyway, he has plenty of time. Even if he abandons Pol Pharmaceuticals, he can easily build a company of the same size with just a little more time.

Adams could even find a rich man to simply steal his body; for him, money is the least important thing.

Adams was completely unaware that the most deadly crisis was lurking right under his nose.

I'm sorry... there's probably no way to save you now...

Li Ang silently apologized to Renn in his heart.

In the current situation, Li Ang has no room to interrogate Adams. Every step of his confrontation with Adams is extremely dangerous. If he doesn't take Adams down now, he may never have such an opportunity again.

What if... what if if we just kill Adams, the souls he controls can return to their bodies?

Li Ang has done his best to the very end; what happens next... is up to fate.

The killing intent, powerful enough to cover a three-meter radius, was compressed into a thin line by Li Ang. Following the path Adams used to control Li Ang's body, it burrowed into his soul and began to wreak havoc from within.

Adams suddenly stopped.

"you……"

These were the last words Adams left in this world. He only had time to utter one word before the murderous intent that was wreaking havoc within his soul completely extinguished his will.

A huge firework exploded behind Li Ang, and countless souls enslaved by Adams lost control and rushed out from the depths of his soul.

The fact that one person's death could cause such a huge commotion shows that Adams, even if he couldn't compare to the gods, was probably not far off from their agents.

The culprit is dead, finally... we can take a break for a while.

Chapter Eighty-Six: Soul Crystal

Li Ang plopped down on the ground, his whole body bathed in an ocean of Originium energy.

The radiation from the Originium, which far exceeded the lethal dose, not only had no effect on him, but also made Li Ang feel warm and cozy, as if he were soaking in a hot spring. Even his excessive physical strength was quickly restored under this warmth.

Li Ang felt somewhat lost.

He returned to Ball Pharmaceuticals, confronted Adams, learned a lot of secret information from him, and finally outsmarted him, successfully turning the tables on him.

Everything that should have been done has been done, and everything that shouldn't have been done has also been done. The only regret is that Raine's soul is still missing.

So... where has Renn's soul gone now? Li Ang was quite certain that he hadn't accidentally killed Renn's soul as well.

However, after sensing the number of souls flying in the air, Li Ang gave up the idea of ​​finding Renn among them.

The difficulty of doing this is basically equivalent to finding the one fly missing half a leg from thousands of flies buzzing around. Even if Li Ang's head were overloaded and burned, he still couldn't do such a terrifying thing.

He could only lie on the floor now, watching those souls fly around aimlessly like headless flies.

"This...is truly magnificent..." Li Ang exclaimed after watching for a while.

The scene before him reminded him of a game he had played a long time ago.

In the game, the protagonist will receive a mission to go deep into Hell to destroy a black soul stone that contains the soul of a demon god. When that soul stone is destroyed, the scene is almost exactly the same as it is now.

It's unclear what Adams' purpose is in enslaving so many souls. If it's just to control souls for combat, then only the souls of the strong would suffice. But Adams accepts almost any soul, regardless of its origin.

Those weaker souls would simply perish in the external environment without Li Ang even having to lift a finger.

Li Ang only lay on the ground for a short while, and many souls were already reduced to ashes, leaving not even a trace behind.

Even if a powerful soul is destroyed, some fragments will remain. By touching those fragments, one can obtain a portion of the soul's remaining memories.