Asura in Arknights

Most people would never even meet someone of Xue Si's extremely high status once in their entire lives, let alone study every little detail about him like this.

Although Magellan had already been tormented by the Ursus, he was unwilling to miss this rare opportunity.

"Stop having such audacious ideas."

Without hesitation, Li Ang chopped Magellan on the head with a chop. "There's something wrong with this corpse. Don't try anything funny if you don't want to die."

Li Ang didn't use much force in that chop, but he was still wearing armor. With a thud, Magellan clutched his head and squatted on the ground.

“What could be wrong with that…” Magellan protested softly.

She had already used a drone to remove the most precious things from Xue Si's body, but there was no change in the corpse. In Magellan's view, Li Ang's actions just now were purely retaliation.

“Just because you didn’t notice it doesn’t mean the danger isn’t there,” Li Ang said calmly. “If you insist on trying, I won’t stop you.”

Upon hearing this, Magellan slowly stood up from the ground, glanced at Yukisa's corpse with some hesitation, and finally took two steps back from the morgue.

What if, what if Li Ang wasn't just trying to scare her?

Since we've already got the most valuable stuff, there's no need to risk it all for the last little bit of profit.

Knowing when to quit while you're ahead is also an essential quality for explorers.

"Very good, it seems you still have some sense."

Seeing that Magellan had made the right choice, Li Ang nodded in satisfaction.

Although it's unclear what the true nature of that aura is, how could Yuki, who was captured by the Ursus army, possibly leave them anything of value?

Li Ang had no intention of coming over later to collect Magellan's corpse.

By this time, Adele had almost overcome her fear and, supporting herself with her staff, walked step by step from a distance.

Li Ang quickly went to her, supported Adele's body, and whispered in her ear, "How are you? Can you still take it? Do you want me to carry you back later?"

With a smile, Adele gently shook her head. "It's alright, I can still manage."

Compared to when she first entered, Adele's complexion was much better. Apart from feeling a little dizzy from the surrounding smells, the scenery around her didn't seem so terrifying anymore.

In this world, anyone who dares to step out of a mobile city is no small man.

However, Adele's previous enemies were mostly infected creatures, such as Originium Bugs, Rift Beasts, and Pincer Beasts. She rarely faced humans, which was thanks to the fact that the guides she hired were always very reliable.

After spending some time in this environment, Adele gradually got used to the terrifying scenery around her. After all, no matter how horrifying it was, these were just corpses that were as dead as could be, and they wouldn't suddenly jump up from the ground to attack them.

Magellan noticed Adele's unusual behavior and curiously leaned over to ask, "Miss Adele, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"It's nothing, it's just that it's a little scary here, and Adele isn't quite used to it."

"Ah...indeed."

Magellan nodded in deep agreement. "The Ursus people have gone too far. They've captured so many Sami people for experiments. If this gets out, it will definitely ruin Ursus's international reputation."

"Ursus dared to wage war against four neighboring countries one after another, do they really care about this little bit of reputation?" Li Ang said dismissively.

In recent decades, most of the countries surrounding Ursus, except for Yan, which is on par with Ursus, have been invaded by Ursus. Although Ursus has lost more often than it has won, it has still shown these countries the madness of Ursus.

Ursus is already infamous, so why would it care about adding another label of human experimentation?

"...That's true."

Magellan thought for a moment, then shrugged helplessly.

"War..."

Li Ang shook his head, and then, to Adele's surprise, he scooped her up from the ground.

"Put me down..." Adele protested softly.

If it were someone she knew, it would be one thing, but with Magellan, a third wheel, watching, Adele wouldn't dare to do such a thing in front of others.

Li Ang naturally wouldn't agree to Adele's request. As he carried Adele toward the exit, he said, "Don't push yourself. I could see you were a little unsteady on your feet. Let me carry you."

"..."

Adele wanted to speak up and refute. She had indeed expended some energy to overcome her fear, but she wasn't so weak that she couldn't even stand up straight.

But then she thought about it. Li Ang had already taken action and picked her up. Was there really any point in arguing about this now?

After realizing the reality, Adele buried her head in Leon's shoulder, pretending not to see Magellan's presence.

Magellan also consciously slowed down, leaving some space for the two of them.

However, just as they stepped out of the room where Xue Si's body was kept, and before they had gone far, a strange change occurred.

The aura within Xue Si's corpse seemed to be stimulated, transforming into a sharp arrow that shot out towards their backs.

"careful!"

Li Ang was the first to react, loudly alerting the others, "Something has escaped from that corpse!"

Magellan, who was walking at the back of the three, was completely unaware of the approaching danger and continued to rub the pendant in his pocket with a silly grin on his face.

Upon hearing Li Ang's warning, Magellan turned around and looked back, asking in confusion, "Li Ang, what are you talking about? I didn't see anything."

Clearly, Magellan couldn't see the mysterious aura within Yuki's body.

Chapter Forty: Trap

"Damn it!" Li Ang gritted his teeth.

Magellan was still staring blankly back, completely unaware that the aura had already reached her within inches.

Li Ang didn't want any of the three of them to personally experience the consequences of coming into contact with that aura.

In a moment of urgency, Li Ang's body reacted before his brain could.

He changed his previous princess carry posture, placing Adele on one shoulder and grabbing Magellan's collar with the other.

With a heavy stomp on the ground, Li Ang pulled the two of them into the air. When the three of them reached their highest point, Li Ang kicked the wall next to him, using the recoil to complete a 360-degree spin in the air and leap backward.

The aura almost grazed Magellan's scalp as it flew past.

Although it was extremely dangerous, Li Ang did ensure that Magellan was not exposed to that aura.

Before arriving in Kazimierz, Leon couldn't perform such flashy moves, but his combat experience was rapidly increasing in the arena battles against other knights.

Even disregarding all other advantages, Li Ang's current combat skills are by no means inferior to those of high-ranking knights with two-word titles.

"Adele, can you see?"

"...Sorry, I didn't see anything."

In other words, apart from Li Ang, the other two couldn't even detect the presence of that aura, let alone launch an effective counterattack.

The safety of everyone suddenly rested entirely on Li Ang's shoulders.

In this critical moment, Li Ang became increasingly calm. With both hands occupied, he couldn't use any of his skills.

Without hesitation, Li Ang released his grip on Magellan's hand, stepped forward, and stood in front of her.

"Ouch!!"

Magellan fell to the ground with a thud, cried out in pain, and then shouted, "What on earth happened?!"

Because she couldn't see that aura, everything that had just happened seemed inexplicable to Magellan. She had no idea what had happened when Li Ang pulled her into the air, and she was finally thrown heavily to the ground.

However, Li Ang simply doesn't have time to answer Magellan right now.

That aura possessed a certain degree of tracking ability. After passing over Magellan's head, it suddenly turned back in mid-air and charged towards Li Ang.

So why was everything peaceful at first, only to suddenly become aggressive just as they were about to leave? Did they accidentally trigger something?

Li Ang couldn't figure this out, but he didn't need to.

Once this aura is eliminated, all problems will be solved.

So Li Ang drew his short sword, gathered the Originium particles into the blade, and slashed at the aura.

However, what Li Ang did not expect was that this aura seemed to have its own consciousness, and just before it made contact with the sword's edge, it suddenly split in two and circled around Li Ang's sides.

Although a small portion of his aura was annihilated by the Originium energy on the sword's edge, much more survived, its target Magellan hiding behind him.

Li Ang's expression changed slightly. The fact that his aura, which was not under his control, could be so flexible was clearly beyond his expectations.

He suddenly turned around and threw the short sword in his hand.

The Originium particles on the sword instantly became activated, and the dark secret room was suddenly filled with light. The wisp of aura that had circled around to Li Ang's right had not flown far before it was reduced to ashes by the light of the activated Originium.

With a "thud," the short sword sank deep into the ground not far in front of Magellan, startling him so much that he shuddered.

"Get rid of that pendant right now!" Li Ang shouted.

The crisis was not completely resolved. Li Ang had only eliminated a portion of them; some escaped through the shadows on the other side.

From the very beginning, the target of that aura was very clear—the pendant that Magellan had taken from Yuki.

Li Ang now understands that this is a trap that is not very cleverly designed. If the pendant is left on Xue Si, then nothing will happen.

However, if anyone becomes greedy for Xue Si's relics, the invisible killing intent will be triggered when they leave with the pendant.

All of this happened in less than two seconds.

Magellan reacted quickly; upon hearing Li Ang's warning, he immediately took the pendant out of the pocket of his protective suit and prepared to throw it far away.

Unfortunately, it was still a bit too late.

Because the pendant was extremely valuable, Magellan carefully kept it hidden deep in his pocket.

That's why Magellan wasted an extra second when he took out the pendant.

That one second is the difference between life and death.

Before Magellan could throw the pendant away, the lingering aura seeped into his body through it.

"Ding--"

The pendant fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

As if a pause button had been pressed, everyone's movements stopped after that crisp sound.

After a long pause, Magellan asked tremblingly, "W-how is it? Is it over?"

Leon let out a soft breath and put Adele down, who was still a little dizzy from being shaken.

Walking up to Magellan, Li Ang pulled the short sword from the ground, shook his head at her, and said, "Too late."

“I only managed to eliminate a portion of them; the rest have all burrowed into your body.” Li Ang pointed to Magellan’s chest and said, “Now that energy has entered your heart, don’t you feel it?”

Upon hearing this, Magellan touched his chest fearfully and said, "But I don't feel anything..."

Apart from some pain in his buttocks, Magellan didn't experience any other particular symptoms.

However, before she could finish speaking, she felt the temperature around her drop a few degrees. Magellan couldn't help but shiver and tighten her protective suit.

Magellan immediately thought of the scent that had seeped into her body and asked somewhat uneasily, "I say... don't you guys feel like it's gotten a bit colder here?"

"..."

Before Leon and Adele could answer her question, Magellan's complexion worsened at a visible rate.

The protective suit seemed to have lost its effectiveness at this moment; a thin layer of frost even covered her brows, and her face turned bluish-purple.

It was as if... the chill was coming from inside the protective suit.

Chapter 41 Originium Therapy (Part 1)

When Li Ang saw the strange look on Magellan's face, his heart sank instantly.

As expected, it did happen. He had known all along that the aura was not a good thing, but he never expected it to erupt in this form.

...Ice?

It seems that the corpses outside the control room were also killed in this way by that Yuki.

The chill emanating from her body was impossible to resist using conventional methods. In less than a minute, Magellan was already too cold to speak. Her eyes were unfocused, and she looked to be in very poor condition.

Compared to those in front of the control room, Magellan's symptoms appeared much faster.

Those people struggled for at least a while before freezing to death at the control room door, but Magellan, in his current state, clearly couldn't hold out for that long.

Coming to her senses from her dazed state, Adele saw Magellan standing motionless beside her and had a bad feeling.

"Magellan...what happened to her?"

"The thing I feared most has happened..."

Li Ang's expression was somewhat gloomy, but Adele didn't notice it because of his helmet. "Magellan still fell for it."