Asura in Arknights

The moment Magellan finished speaking, everyone's eyes were fixed on her.

“o_O Did I say something wrong?” Magellan shrank back and weakly argued, “They can’t possibly seal off the entire mountain, can they? If someone wants to get in, there’s always a way.”

If Magellan were in charge, she could probably just climb over any mountain she could find.

“What you said is indeed correct,” Jingzhe nodded. “They blocked the only safe route up the mountain, but none of my men have experience crossing snow-capped mountains. If we act rashly, there might be problems.”

"I have already sent my men to find other routes into the mountains, and we should have results in a few days."

Indeed, without relevant experience, even just crossing a small hill in such a harsh environment could easily lead to problems.

Moreover, the work of the Dali Temple is currently being obstructed by the Sami authorities, and it is likely that they cannot even find a qualified guide. That is why Jingzhe is eager to cooperate with Li Ang and find a way to break the deadlock from them.

She had indeed found the right person; Li Ang possessed a map leading directly to the depths of the Dark Mountains.

However, before telling Jingzhe about this, Li Ang had one more question he wanted to clarify.

"What do you mean by the mountain sacrifice you just mentioned?"

Judging from Jingzhe's words, Sami was using this as an excuse to prevent them from entering the Dark Mountains.

"Mountain worship is a very ancient custom. It is said that it was already prevalent in this region before the Sami Kingdom was established. After the Sami queen unified the whole country, this tradition was still preserved."

"The mountain festival is held in Hammerford?"

"good."

"Let me guess, was the last mountain festival held a year ago?" Li Ang licked his lips, feeling slightly excited.

Jingzhe glanced at Li Ang with some surprise, but after thinking about the relationship between Li Ang and the others and Professor Nauman, she wasn't surprised at all.

“You guessed right. Professor Nauman is indeed involved with the Mountain Festival. According to the information we have investigated, a year ago, Professor Nauman somehow persuaded Xue Si to participate in the Mountain Festival as an outsider.”

bingo!

Jingzhe's answer confirmed Li Ang's suspicions. He knew this place was not so simple, otherwise Professor Nauman would not have traveled all the way to this city.

So what exactly is hidden in the mountains?

Are they immortal beings who presume to be gods, or invaders from another land? The deaths of the Nauman couple... and what is their connection to the being hidden in the mountains?

“The mountain festival is held only once every ten years. There must have been something wrong with last year’s festival, which is why they are holding it again this year.”

"I wanted to find some clues from those research materials, but unfortunately I haven't found anything so far."

"We must enter that mountain range before the mountain sacrifice begins, otherwise, once the snow sacrifice arrives, we may find it difficult to find another opportunity to enter."

Although Jingzhe is not afraid of Sami's Snow Sacrifice, it would be very unwise to clash with them on Sami's territory. Jingzhe's strength has not yet reached the level of her master, who can ignore the threat of a country.

Li Ang pondered for a moment, then asked, "How much time is left?"

"Xue Si has already set off; we have at most half a month left."

"Our goals are the same, so can you give me a definite answer? Besides the information left by Dr. Nauman, do you have any other clues?" Jingzhe stared at Li Ang and asked very seriously.

Which road leading into the mountains did they block?

“It’s this one.” Jingzhe picked up a map from the table and drew a short distance on it. “This is the initial route of the Mountain Sacrifice. As for the later routes, I’m afraid only Xue Si himself and the people chosen to participate in the ceremony know.”

Comparing the route map deciphered from the Sarkaz inscription, Li Ang discovered that it was indeed the same route. Although the entrance was blocked, which was a bit troublesome, just as Magellan said, if you just want to get in, there's always a way to get in.

Li Ang then let out a soft breath and said, "You guessed right, we do have a complete route map, which should have been secretly drawn up by my uncle back then."

"Great!"

Upon hearing this news, Jingzhe breathed a sigh of relief. "Then let's not delay, let's set off today!"

She didn't want to wait even a second longer. If they set off immediately, they should be able to return before Xue Si arrived.

"Wait? You're just going to set off like this?" Li Ang frowned. "Aren't you going to make some preparations? That mountain range isn't a safe place."

"No need, I can manage on my own."

Jingzhe was clearly confident in her abilities and answered without hesitation.

Now that she had a precise map and didn't have to worry about obstruction from the Sami authorities, Jingzhe felt that nothing could stop her.

"To avoid being spotted by the Sami people, we shouldn't send too many people this time. Who wants to come with me?"

Although she spoke in a questioning tone, Jingzhe's gaze had already fallen on Li Ang, and her meaning was quite clear: she obviously hoped that Li Ang would accompany her this time.

In the previous conflict, Jingzhe had also roughly witnessed the strength of Li Ang and his two companions.

The two girls were fairly capable, but there was still a significant gap between them and Jingzhe; at best, they could only manage not to hold the team back.

As for the other person with them... Jingzhe still hasn't figured out his true nature.

Although Xuan Cheng's mind isn't the sharpest, his abilities are quite impressive; otherwise, Jing Zhe wouldn't have entrusted him with such an important task.

Given Xuan Cheng's personality, he would never hold back once he made a move. However, even with his full strength, he was still subdued by this man within a few moves. If Jing Zhe hadn't arrived in time, Xuan Cheng would probably have suffered even more.

Jingzhe couldn't help but ask herself, could she have subdued Xuancheng so cleanly and efficiently?

She could probably do it if it were a sneak attack, but if it were a head-on confrontation, Xuan Cheng's talisman technique was already highly developed, and even Jing Zhe wouldn't be able to win so easily.

If it were Master Jingzhe, he could definitely do such a thing.

But how could that be? Her master was one of the strongest people in Yan Kingdom. How could she just go to a small place and meet someone whose strength was equal to his?

In short, this man is very capable and will definitely be of help.

"hiss--"

Li Ang took a deep breath, feeling a bit of a headache. Jingzhe's strong drive was actually not a good thing for him.

"Let me put it this way, Miss Jingzhe, I think you've misunderstood something."

"Entering the Dark Mountains to investigate is just one of the means we can use, not our goal."

"Besides, you're being too hasty. If you're going into the mountains without making any preparations, I'm afraid I can't accompany you."

Chapter Sixty: The Price

Hammerford was extremely quiet after nightfall; there wasn't a soul in sight on the streets.

With the mountain festival approaching, the entire city was enveloped in an extremely solemn atmosphere.

The scene of the failed mountain sacrifice a year ago is still vivid in their minds. They even lost a noble Snow Priest because of it. The last time the Sami suffered such a loss was decades ago when they fought against Ursus.

As for the consequences of the failed mountain sacrifice, that was something that ordinary people like them couldn't possibly know about.

All they knew was that the Queen of Sami had been out of the public eye for a long time since that day, so anyone who knew anything about what had happened last year kept quiet.

Without resorting to coercion, it's simply wishful thinking for the Dali Temple to extract information from these people.

If someone reveals certain information to the Dali Temple, then these people most likely have ulterior motives.

In an inconspicuous house in the area, Jonah was lying on the bed, squirming restlessly.

His brow was furrowed, and sweat poured down his body, soaking the entire bed sheet. He looked like he had a terrible dream, which was somewhat worrying; he might be dehydrated from sweating so much.

However, Jonah's reaction quickly proved to everyone that their worries were unnecessary.

"No----!!"

A desperate scream pierced the roof and reached the sky, and Jonah sprang out of bed amidst his neighbor's angry shouts.

He wrapped the sweat-soaked blanket tightly around himself, his expression contorted in pain, a stark contrast to his usual sickly appearance.

After shivering in bed for a long time, Jonah finally calmed down. He picked up the alarm clock on the bedside table, glanced at the time, and his face immediately turned even more grim.

"Two hours..."

It's 3 a.m., just two hours after Jonah went to bed, he was woken up by that persistent nightmare.

Jonah knew he probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

Jonah has been startled awake from his dreams more than once, and he has never been able to fall back asleep since.

At first it was okay, only his sleep quality was slightly affected, but later the situation became more and more serious, and now he can only sleep for less than two hours a day.

Even though Jonah gets so little sleep each day, his body hasn't developed any major problems.

The dark circles under his eyes and the constant yawning seemed to be just Jonah's imagination; he still felt very energetic every day, without the slightest feeling of fatigue.

Jonah put the alarm clock back on the bedside table, picked up a small pill bottle from the side, and poured all the white pills inside into his palm.

After staring at the pills in his hand for a while, Jonah deflated like a punctured balloon, his shoulders slumped, and he dejectedly put the pills back in their place and returned the medicine bottle to its original position.

This is a small bottle of poison. Just one small piece can end a person's life in just a few minutes. Jonah was worried that one piece wouldn't be enough, so he specially got a whole bottle.

Jonah couldn't bear the torment any longer. He even considered ending it all, but he never had the courage to swallow the small vial of poison.

He wasn't afraid of death; Jonah was just afraid that something worse than death would happen after he swallowed the poison.

With a wry smile, Jonah got out of bed.

The blanket slipped off Jonah, revealing a emaciated body underneath.

Jonah was nearly 1.8 meters tall, which was quite tall for an Elafian, but his physique didn't seem to match his height at all.

He was so thin and completely bald that he had almost no hair, which was extremely unusual for an Elafian.

The changes began a year ago.

At first, Jonah didn't realize that there was something wrong with his body. He just felt that his appetite was getting worse and worse. No matter how much he used to like a certain food, after a few bites, he would feel nauseous.

What changed later was his skin.

One day, Jonah suddenly discovered that all the body hair on his body had disappeared, and his skin had become even smoother and more delicate than that of the teenage girl next door.

This is not a good thing for him.

Months later, when Jonah peeled off a complete 'human skin' from his body, he was terrified by himself.

Of all the races on Terra, which one needs to 'shed its skin'? Even the scales of the Saffra race don't fall off as completely as his.

His body seems to be transforming into something inhuman, and whether a deadly poison that could kill a human would have any effect on him is a big question mark.

That's why Jonah hesitated to make up his mind to die.

When Jonah realized this, he began frantically searching for the cause of the changes in his body, eventually pinpointing something that had happened a year earlier.

A year ago, a couple of scholars from abroad joined the mountain worship procession. The couple lived in the dormitory provided by the school for teachers.

At that time, Jonah's health was still good, and he happened to live on the same floor as the couple. Given his status as a geography teacher, the two sides had some interaction.

Later, the couple suddenly died for some unknown reason, and Jonah received an order from the mayor to sort through the couple's belongings.

While sorting through the items, Jonah wasn't entirely honest; he secretly took some of the more valuable things and sold them to middlemen for some money for drinks.

But how could one so easily take what belongs to another? If there was any reason why Jonah's body had changed, this was the only one he could think of.

Jonah was filled with remorse whenever he thought about it. To avoid others discovering his abnormality, he even moved out of his school dormitory. But even so, as time went by, the changes in him became so obvious that they could no longer be hidden.

At this rate of change, it's questionable whether he'll still be considered 'human' in a few months.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!"

Jonah rubbed his head vigorously, and a large clump of hair fell off his scalp with ease, like dry straw.

He has already paid the price for his greed.

After venting his frustrations, Jonah walked to the window and gazed wistfully in a certain direction.

He has one last chance.

Chapter Sixty-One: Rest

Li Ang persuaded Jingzhe without much effort.

Having drive is a good thing, but if you blindly rush into everything without considering any problems, it seems a bit too reckless. Although Jingzhe holds a high position, she also showed her youthful side in this matter.

If it were a seasoned and shrewd Minister of Justice, he probably wouldn't have proposed an equal partnership with Li Ang and his group. Instead, he would have focused on figuring out how to extract the last bit of value from Li Ang.

However, someone like that would never accept such a difficult task.

After calming down and carefully weighing the pros and cons, Jingzhe had to admit that Li Ang was right. She had indeed been too hasty. Venturing into the Dark Mountains without any preparation was not a smart thing to do.

Just by thinking about the name of this mountain range—Skadino, the darkest place in the world—you can understand its significance in the hearts of the local Sami people.

Ultimately, Jingzhe decided to set off three days later.

She needs some time to reorganize the situation within the Dali Temple, select a few capable assistants to go into the mountains to investigate, and also needs to arrange the course of action for the remaining people after she leaves.

At the very least, it must be ensured that if the Sami people launch an attack when Jingzhe leaves, the remaining people can guarantee to buy enough time for Jingzhe.

In short, Jingzhe had a lot to do. After instructing his subordinates to help Li Ang and his group if they encountered any difficulties, Jingzhe disappeared without a trace.