Asura in Arknights

The camera mounted on the tail of the drone was pointed at the morgue below, showing Magellan the full view of the corpse inside.

The next moment, Magellan's gaze sharpened, and he called out with some surprise and uncertainty.

"Snow Festival?!"

Wasn't Magellan just looking for something valuable?

Now, something of value has emerged.

P.S. I caught a cold after it started snowing and getting colder. I had a headache and felt weak for two days, and I'm only feeling a little better today.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Curiosity Killed the Cat

"The Ursus people actually captured a Snow Priest??" Magellan's voice revealed a hint of disbelief.

Although Magellan did not recognize the young man lying in the morgue, he could tell his identity from the special clothing he was wearing.

The only Erafians who would dress so strangely are the Sami people during their snow rituals.

"Wow... if the Sami people knew, they'd probably go crazy with rage..."

Magellan muttered something under his breath, then approached the morgue and looked inside.

As expected, the Snow Maiden inside received the same treatment as the other Elafia people. Her exposed skin was covered with various stitches, which gives an idea of ​​the inhuman treatment she had suffered after arriving here.

For some unknown reason, the Ursus people didn't take away the various ornaments from the Snow Priest's body. However, this should be a good thing for Magellan, as Snow Priests hold a very high position in Sami, and the ornaments they carry are naturally not ordinary items.

These are all handcrafted ornaments made from special Originium. They not only have artistic value but can also serve as a medium for using Originium Arts. If they were sold to someone knowledgeable, they would definitely fetch a good price. At least she could get back the Dragon Drone she lost last time.

Thinking of this, Magellan swallowed hard and carefully opened the lid of the morgue.

……

What is Snow Sacrifice?

Standing at the entrance of the passage, Li Ang suddenly asked out of the blue.

"what?"

“What I was trying to ask was, what is Snow Sacrifice?” Li Ang repeated his question. “Magellan found a Snow Sacrifice’s body down there, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the name Snow Sacrifice.”

Adele thought about it, and realized that she had never heard of a Snow Sacrifice.

“Forget it, let’s not dwell on this,” Li Ang shook his head, not wanting to continue worrying about such a trivial matter. “We’ll just ask Magellan later.”

“But Adele, are you really going to come down with me?” Leon said seriously to Adele. “It’s not a good place down there. You can wait here. There’s no need for you to come down with me.”

At first, Li Ang was not clear about the specific situation in this secret room; all he saw were simple black and white lines.

But when he saw Magellan kneel down and start retching after glancing at the situation in the secret chamber, Li Ang knew that the situation below was not simple.

Even though Magellan had a penchant for reckless behavior, there's no denying that she was an excellent explorer.

Living alone on the far northern ice plains is not something everyone can do.

Even such an excellent explorer was so frightened that it took him a long time to come to his senses, which shows how terrifying the scene below must have been.

Li Ang can go down and catch that reckless guy by himself; there's no need for Adele to suffer the same torment.

That's what he was thinking, but Adele... didn't agree with Leon's view.

Adele sighed softly and said, "Leon... I know you care about me, but I can't keep running away from this."

“Escape?” Li Ang was taken aback. “How can this be considered escaping? I was just worried about you.”

“This is escapism,” Adele said calmly. “My father and mother may have been to places far more dangerous than this. If I can’t even handle something like this, then I don’t need to look for them.”

Is the secret chamber below dangerous? It might be somewhat dangerous, given the anti-theft measures left by the Ursus army, but no matter how dangerous it is, it can't compare to the Dark Mountains they're about to travel to. At most, it's just a bit bloody and terrifying.

If she can't even pass this test, will she be able to calm down and continue fighting when she's really in danger? In the recent battle with the aliens, Adele was only able to get a chance to fight once in a long while, thanks to Leon's protection.

What she lacks is not strength, but experience in dealing with various emergencies. At least when faced with danger, Adele no longer wants to be a burden.

This is a trial for Adele.

Li Ang was speechless.

"Whatever you want."

Shaking his hand, Li Ang silently walked into the passage.

"Magellan has already started courting disaster; if we don't hurry over there, it will be too late."

On the corpse of 'Snow Sacrifice', Li Ang sensed an unusual aura.

It was neither like the effect of Originium Arts nor like the fluctuations generated by the soul, but something that Li Ang had never seen before, so he couldn't be sure what it was.

This aura lurked silently within the corpse of the 'Snow Sacrifice'.

Aside from the possible killer, the only thing that left Li Ang uncertain about in this fortress was that mysterious aura.

When they entered the lower chamber and could see their surroundings clearly in the firelight, Adele's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

"..."

Even though Leon could feel Adele's body trembling, he did not turn around to comfort her.

This was Adele's decision, and now Leon would only make things worse; she had to overcome this on her own. So Leon hardened his heart and walked towards Magellan's location without looking back.

When Li Ang arrived at Magellan's side, she was drooling and pressing the drone's controller with shining eyes.

Magellan was being extremely careful; after opening the morgue lid, she didn't directly touch the body of the Snow Maiden.

She equipped the drone with a robotic arm, controlled the robotic arm to peel off Xue Si's clothes, and pulled out a snowflake-shaped pendant from Xue Si's body.

Without a doubt, this pendant is the most valuable thing on Xue Si's body.

Magellan rubbed her hands together, and just as she reached out to remove the pendant from the drone, a hand reached out from behind her and gripped her arm tightly.

"Miss Magellan, can you explain why you're here so late?"

Upon hearing Li Ang's voice, Magellan froze, his heart pounding.

Ruined.

This was the only thought left in Magellan's mind, and now that Li Ang had caught her red-handed, she was truly speechless.

However, Magellan wasn't about to give up so easily. She gave an awkward laugh and said, "Um... let me explain, I have a reason for being here..."

"Oh? There's a reason?" Li Ang said with interest. "Miss Magellan, I wonder if you've ever heard a saying..."

"Curiosity can kill Film."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Incarnation of the Blizzard

"It's not out of curiosity!"

Magellan immediately retorted, "I just...I just...Oh right, I just smelled that stench again, so I followed the smell and eventually found this place."

Seeing that Magellan was still trying to deny it, Li Ang was amused and said bluntly, "Stop pretending. I noticed when you sneaked out. I was following you the whole time and watched you find your way here."

"Didn't I tell you? I observe this world using perception magic. Your little tricks can't escape my notice at all."

Magellan's expression froze for a moment, then he gave an awkward laugh.

Now she had nothing more to say.

Li Ang casually took the pendant off the drone.

This pendant is indeed a rare gem. It is only the size of a fingertip of Originium, but its effect as a unit for Originium Arts spellcasting is comparable to some large staves.

This is the difference between traditional craftsmanship and modern industrial mass-produced products. Although the quality of products made by traditional craftsmanship varies, there are always some amazing works that can be made.

After examining the pendant closely for a while, Li Ang casually tossed it to Magellan.

This is Magellan's gain; Li Ang has not yet stooped to the point of embezzling this pendant.

Magellan hurriedly caught the pendant and looked at Li Ang with great gratitude. She thought the pendant would definitely be confiscated, but she didn't expect Li Ang to be so generous as to return it to her.

At this moment, Li Ang spoke up and asked, "I just heard you say that this is the corpse of a Snow Sacrifice? I wonder if you could explain what a 'Snow Sacrifice' is? I don't think I've ever heard of this name before."

Magellan rubbed the pendant in his hand, carefully placed it in the lining of his protective suit, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

She said slowly, "Snow Si... is a very special kind of person among the Sami. Their status is second only to the Sami Queen, and they will never leave the Sami territory in their lifetime, so it is normal not to have heard of Snow Si."

"Although I don't know what you're going to do in Sami, please be careful of these 'snow rituals' when you get there."

"Are they very powerful?" Li Ang raised an eyebrow and asked with interest.

"..."

Magellan suddenly fell silent, as if recalling something extremely terrifying, and his gaze subtly changed.

“Let me put it this way,” Magellan took a deep breath, “the area of ​​Sami is less than one-fiftieth of that of the Ursus Empire, and it is located in a harsh land on the edge of the continent. How can such a country withstand the invasion of the Ursus Empire? Even a single army group should be able to easily raze a small country like Sami to the ground.”

"But the Fourth Army failed. They suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Sami. Do you know why?"

"...Is it because of Anxie Xuesi?" Li Ang said in a very cooperative manner.

Magellan nodded solemnly. "Decades have passed now, and the Ursus soldiers who fought in that war still wake up in the middle of blizzards, fearing they will die silently in the storm."

"The Fourth Army almost reached the capital of Sami, and then the Snow Sacrifice appeared. There were only three of them, but they stopped the attack of nearly 100,000 Ursus troops. Countless people died in the blizzard that blotted out the sun... In the end, less than half of the Fourth Army survived."

"They were known as the curse of Kitahara, the embodiment of blizzards, and the nightmare of the Fourth Army for life."

Three people withstood an attack by nearly 100,000 people?

This sounds like a fantasy, but in a world where Originium Arts exist, it's not entirely impossible.

Although these snow priests took advantage of the favorable weather and terrain of the far north ice plains, this was still a terrifying achievement. Ordinary people... no, there are very few people in the world who can do this. These snow priests have undoubtedly reached the top of the world.

"I see. I have a general understanding of Xue Si's strength now. However... I'm a little curious, how did you know this information?"

It's not surprising that Magellan knew of Yuki's existence, nor is it surprising that he knew of the Fourth Army's crushing defeat. But it's rather unusual that Magellan knew the exact number of Yuki's troops at the time.

“These are all data collected by Rhine Lab,” Magellan said quietly, looking away. “I’ve seen related records in Rhine Lab’s database before; there’s data on the impact of Xue Si’s actions.”

After saying that, Magellan added, "You absolutely mustn't tell anyone about this, it's a serious violation. I don't have permission to access this information, but I know the database administrator, and I borrowed her access to see it."

"If you hadn't saved me before, I wouldn't have told you all this."

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who talks too much," Li Ang assured him.

"Rhine Lab..."

Building a research station on the far north ice sheet is somewhat understandable, but collecting data on Sami Xueci is clearly not something a normal company would do.

Thanks to Magellan, Li Ang is now filled with curiosity about RheinLife.

However, now is not the time to focus on Rhine Life.

After a moment of contemplation, Li Ang turned his attention back to the morgue cabinet. Pointing to the body inside, he said, "So, this is one of the three Snow Saints from back then?"

"Although they made the Fourth Army pay a price, the Ursus also successfully killed a Snow Priest and brought his body here for research?"

Upon hearing this, Magellan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

"I do not know."

“I have never heard of any such rumors, and there is no record of them in Rhine Lab’s database.”

“I’ve been in the Northern Plains for several years and have met some veterans of the Ursus Army. They are all very reluctant to talk about what happened back then, but I think the Fourth Army should not be able to kill a Snow Sacrifice.”

"Otherwise, the battle report would not have been 'the Fourth Army suffered a complete defeat,' but rather 'the Fourth Army achieved a Pyrrhic victory or a narrow defeat.'"

Li Ang thought about it and felt that Magellan's words made some sense.

Under that cloak that resembled a bed sheet, Li Ang could not sense the power Magellan had mentioned. This powerful Snow Priest had been dead for many years; what lay here was merely a corpse.

So the question is, who killed him? And why was his body found in this secretive military fortress?

Xue Si's body lay quietly in the morgue, the mysterious aura still lingering within him, without any change.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Anomaly

After Magellan's explanation, Li Ang gained some understanding of the 'Snow Sacrifice' group.

However, Li Ang was wondering if these snow sacrifices would be related to their upcoming journey.

They were heading to one of the most remote mobile cities in Sami. Someone of Xue Si's high status wouldn't stay in such a remote corner, would he?

Li Ang considered this, but he couldn't say for sure what the specific situation would be. What if Xue Si just liked to go to such remote and impoverished places?

Putting these thoughts aside, Li Ang said to Magellan, "Is there anything else you want to do? If not, come back with me. This place doesn't feel right."

"Wait a moment!" Magellan said somewhat impatiently, "I want to see this Snow Fairy a little longer!"

She had only used the drone to scan the other person a couple of times and found their most valuable jewelry; there were still many other places she hadn't had time to examine.