Poseidon in Arknights

"What's wrong? What did you find?" Provence was stunned when the flashlight was suddenly snatched away, but he looked at Skyfire with a mixture of anxiety and confusion as he frantically searched for something around him.

Skyfire pointed his light at a rock wall, as if confirming something, and immediately grabbed Provence's hand and ran inside: "Come in with me quickly, I need to confirm if there's anything else inside?"

"What are you doing?" Provence asked, puzzled, as he was pulled inside by the fire. "What did you find?"

Provence held up another flashlight and looked in the direction where the fire had just shone, looking at the few remaining traces of obsidian and the surrounding rock with flowing patterns.

"No way?!" Provence seemed to suddenly realize something, and pulled Tianhuo inside. "You're right, we need to go in quickly and confirm it right away."

"If we can confirm this, we will still have a chance to slow down the volcanic eruption."

——————Siesta Hotel——————

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" Xi Yue looked at the Emperor on the ground with multiple wounds, including but not limited to knife wounds, blunt force injuries, and gunshot wounds.

At this moment, the emperor was completely lifeless, and judging from the many wounds on his body, it was impossible to save him.

"Exusiai even took out the shredded material I gave him?" Yuzuki looked at the torn wound on the Emperor's chest. "Tsk tsk tsk."

"Are you still tsk tsk?" The emperor, who should have been a corpse lying on the ground, suddenly jumped up. In the blink of an eye, except for his clothes which were still tattered, his wounds disappeared without a trace, just like a refresh in a game.

"I wanted to hide behind you, but you just ran off like a shot?"

"Ahem." Xi Yue turned her head slightly embarrassed. "After all, it's not appropriate for children to see bloody scenes."

"My goodness!" The Emperor jumped onto the sofa, feigning surprise. "My friend, don't tell me the child you're talking about is Red."

"Are you sure that child needs to avoid bloody scenes?" The Emperor looked at Xi Yue, who had turned her face away, and pressed his advantage by asking, "Are you sure that in most cases, that child isn't the culprit behind creating bloody scenes?"

“Red isn’t responsible for the surgery.” Xi Yue swung her tail in front of her and rubbed Red, who was hanging on it with a happy expression. Ever since she revealed her dragon form, this child had been stuck to her tail all day long, like a pendant.

Even when Texas tried to lure Red with her tail, she seemed uninterested. Oh, of course, Red is still interested in the big purple tail of Provence she met last time.

However, since I haven't seen Provence recently, I'm a little disappointed. This is because the recent series has been showcasing dragon life.

"Mmm." The red elephant hanging on the tail nodded loudly and chimed in, "Red is just a nurse, Mom is the one who performs the surgery."

"Hehe~" The Emperor jumped off the sofa, propped up a chair on the side of the wine cabinet, and took a bottle of red wine from it. "But speaking of which, what are you going to do over there? I don't believe you haven't done anything."

"Just leave it to the Siesta officials to handle~" Yuuki shrugged and hugged Hong, who was trying to pluck a little bit of fur from the tip of Yuuki's tail.

"Regarding what that little guy said, I gave Rhodes Island a little magic weapon. This matter is both a natural disaster and a man-made one. It can save us for a while, but not forever."

"Does a lifetime make a difference to you, or even a moment?" the earth asked, swirling the red wine. "If you want to."

“That’s right, if I want to.” Yuzuki nodded. “I can forcibly stop a volcano from erupting, and it’s easy for me.”

Xi Yue, holding Hong, sat down: "But what then? Suppress that volcano again and again, save the people here again and again? No one will need to be saved by others indefinitely."

"You have to learn not to seek help from others, and learn to walk on your own." Xi Yue looked out the window. "There's an old saying, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.' Hmm, maybe that's not the right way to put it in this situation. Oh well, that's the gist of it."

"Since natural disasters are bound to happen sooner or later, and some people here have already made all the preparations to face them, then all I need to do is give them a little more time, right?"

——————Siesta Volcano Mineral Channel——————

"Did you two go down to mine?" ACE looked at Skyfire and Provence, who were covered in soot, with a slight smile on his face. After a period of rest, the slight symptoms of drunkenness were no longer a big problem for him.

Of course, Scout doesn't have his physical condition; he's still a bit dizzy, so the Doctor arranged for him to go to the southwest to avoid any accidents.

However, since it was a trip, Scout didn't bring his sniper rifle. He borrowed a spare small bow from Provence instead. It wasn't as good as his rifle, but it was enough.

"What are you saying?" Tianhuo slapped his tail in annoyance; his once smooth and shiny tail was now covered in dust.

After a few quick pats, Skyfire looked at the Doctor: "We've found a way to temporarily slow down the eruption, but only for a short time."

"Natural disasters are unavoidable; all we can do is buy more time."

------------

"So this time we're looking for a mutated Originium Bug?" ACE walked at the front, holding a shield in one hand and a longsword in the other.

Like Scou, because they were in a hurry to travel and run away, all their weapons were left on Rhodes Island. ACE got his shield and sword from Beagle.

Although this shield is definitely not as good as his original one, it's better than nothing. He doesn't want to use his physical body to withstand a large number of Originium Bugs, not to mention there seems to be a big one here as well.

"You two looked so disheveled before, were you both hurt by those Source Worms?"

“That’s right.” Provence nodded. “But we only saw it from a distance. It’s quite ferocious right now, so we have to be careful.”

Amiya and the Doctor exchanged a glance. In their previous conversation with Yuuki, they already knew that Miss Yuuki seemed to have frightened a little one, thus slowing down the volcanic eruption.

Now it seems that, just as they thought, what Miss Yuzuki's little one was no longer a little one to them, and was likely not just an ordinary danger.

"So what exactly is it?" ACE asked, puzzled. "Why would attacking a single Originium Bug stop the volcanic eruption?"

“That’s no ordinary Originium Bug.” Provence shook his head. “It can be said to be the true master of this region, a moving natural disaster and the wrath of nature.”

Chapter 145: Pompeii

"The true master of this region?" ACE asked Provence behind him without turning his head, "So, what does this moving natural disaster, the wrath of nature, have to do with delaying volcanic eruptions?"

"Hmm... let Skyfire handle the explanation." Provence looked at Skyfire beside him. "You explain it."

Tianhuo, holding a flashlight, first rolled his eyes at Provence, then said, "This is the conclusion I reached with Provence and me after exploring inside the volcano and communicating remotely with Eyjafjalla."

"To explain the principles, we must first talk about the ecology of the Originium worms here... No, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call them volcanic Originium worms or lava Originium worms."

Skyfire pointed the red Primal Worm protruding from the ACE sword with the beam of his flashlight: "Although they look almost identical to Originium Worms, they nest in volcanoes, feed on the special obsidian here, and build their nests and take root inside the Siesta volcanoes."

“No wonder you say they are the true masters of this region.” ACE looked at the Originium worm pierced through his hand by the sword. “I still don’t understand what this has to do with the volcanic eruption?”

“It can’t be that simple.” ACE looked around with his headlamp. “These holes they drilled could have collapsed the volcano, could it?”

"Can you let me finish speaking first? Don't rush me." Tianhuo looked at ACE helplessly. It was the first time he had seen this older brother so talkative. He probably hadn't sobered up yet.

"These Originium worms live very close to the core of the volcano, which is also where obsidian mixed with special components is produced in large quantities."

Skyfire stepped forward and took the longsword from ACE's hand. He then used a flashlight to show everyone the mouthparts of the Originium Bug. At this moment, some fragments of obsidian remained around the mouthparts of the primitive bug.

"And the people here discovered this property and used their tracks to mine obsidian."

Hrag, who was standing beside the group and cleaving a lava worm in two with his knife, nodded: "I see. When we are on the march or fighting, if we encounter special circumstances, we will also use some characteristics of creatures to find resources."

"Presumably, they also relied on this characteristic to occupy this natural cave as their excavation site in the mine tunnels."

“That’s right, General.” Provence nodded. “People can always find patterns in their connections with living things.”

Skyfire nodded in agreement with Hrag's statement: "But that's the problem. This volcano last erupted a long time ago. There might not even have been anyone here when it erupted."

Skyfire swept his light across the surrounding rock walls: "The amount of obsidian that can be formed from a single volcanic eruption is limited. Excessive mining has not only depleted the mineral resources here, but also destroyed the living environment of the Originium Bugs."

"It's not just that," the doctor suddenly spoke up. "This place was originally their nest, but people's mining of obsidian has severely reduced their living space."

"And you just said that obsidian is also their food, which means that their population is facing a severe crisis due to human mining activities."

"They wanted to dig out new veins of minerals and find new obsidian to feed themselves. It's a biological instinct, so they started burrowing onto land and drilling into the mountains."

Tianhuo nodded: "That's right, so their behavior has obviously started to become restless. It is estimated that a lot of abnormal volcanic activity is caused by their activities of clearing out habitats and food sources."

"This behavior is an effective way for Originium Bugs to expand their habitat and find food sources, but for Siesta City, it would probably be a catastrophe."

Provence paused for a moment, then summarized: "So this is both a natural disaster and a man-made one. A volcanic eruption may have been inevitable sooner or later, but people's endless exploitation of resources and lack of reverence for nature's gifts will inevitably be punished by nature."

"Wait a minute, it's getting hotter up ahead," the doctor called out to the group. "We'll be at our destination soon, right?"

“That’s right.” Provence nodded, then looked at the Doctor with concern, as if remembering something. “Is the Doctor having trouble adjusting? Should we bring a camera? Or should we come outside the cave to direct us?”

“No need.” The Doctor looked at Amiya beside him. “Distribute the food to everyone. We might be facing a scorching lava hell soon, and if we don’t drink now, there won’t be any time left.”

"Mmm." Amiya put down the water bottle she had been holding and took out a few cups from the backpack behind her.

"Hey, hey." Ace, holding his shield, turned his head slightly and glanced at Amiya, who was pouring tea into each cup, out of the corner of his eye. "Is this some kind of farewell drink? Don't be so pessimistic."

“Of course not.” The doctor shook his head. “It’s a good thing, something that can help us fight better in this environment.”

The kettle was filled with the ice tea leaves that Yuuki had given them. Since Miss Yuuki hadn't specified the duration, in order to ensure that the tea would be used for as much as possible throughout the battle, the Doctor and Amiya simply brewed the tea but didn't distribute it to everyone beforehand.

Of course, the doctor also drank a little first to confirm that the tea could be effective even without using the black tea brewing method. However, he only drank a little, and the effect lasted only a few minutes.

Because the quantity of tea leaves is limited, and it's impossible to determine whether the effect will persist if the tea is brewed repeatedly, the doctor doesn't dare to conduct too many experiments. For now, giving each person two cups to drink should provide a fairly long-lasting effect.

"What is this?" Herag crouched down next to Amiya. "Tea leaves, very fragrant tea leaves, but this method is such a waste."

"Because we didn't have time." The doctor was also a little embarrassed. He said that when he said he was going to make them tea, he just boiled some water and threw the tea leaves in. He didn't do it properly at all.

'I hope Miss Yuuki won't be angry about this rough way of using it.' The Doctor scratched her head. She had noticed before that Yuuki really liked these black teas and coffees.

When Yuuki introduced the different types of coffee and black tea she served, the smile on her face was genuine, and the fact that she could take out a complete set of exquisite tea utensils from her clothes at any time showed how much she loved them.

So now, with what Hellagur said, the Doctor suddenly became a little worried. What if Yuuki knew that they brewed her tea in such a rough way? Would she be angry?

"Hmm, let's not worry about it too much." The Doctor scratched his head, picked up a cup of tea that Amiya had poured, and took a sip. A refreshing, icy sensation spread from his stomach throughout his body.

"Drink first, drink first."

"I've never heard of a place where you drink tea before you fight," ACE muttered, placing his sword on the shelf behind his shield and stepping back to get a cup of tea.

"Mmm!" As the tea went down, a cool sensation rushed through his body. ACE looked at the tea with some surprise. He had no idea that Rhodes Island had such a good thing.

"Is it some kind of hallucinogen?" Skyfire frowned as he looked at the remaining tea in his teacup. He then took out his phone to open the Rhodes Island monitoring bracelet interface and saw that his body temperature had indeed begun to drop to some extent.

"Did the body temperature actually drop?"

After thinking for a moment, Amiya felt that the effects of the tea were hard to explain, so she simply said, "Just think of it as a special kind of medicine."

"Yes, these potions will help us fight for longer in the hot environment." The doctor looked at the group who had already drunk their tea. "What follows is going to be a tough battle."

"Hiss!!!" Suddenly, a terrifying hissing sound came from the depths of the cave, so loud that the entire rock wall trembled.

Immediately following were various explosions, booming sounds, and the sound of rocks rolling down echoed throughout the passage.

"Oh no!" Provence gritted his teeth, leaning against the rock face. "It's gotten even more violent."

"Hey, don't tell me that thing is what we're after this time." ACE's face darkened instantly. He looked down at the shield and sword in his hands. "Judging from the sound, it sounds like something serious."

——————Volcano, Deep in the Mine, Lava Chamber——————

In a chamber filled with lava and obsidian, a gigantic and terrifying Originium worm, surrounded by a swarm of other Originium worms, unleashed a deafening and terrifying roar.

Its terrifying roar even caused the surrounding rock walls to tremble slightly, and many loose rocks were shaken down.

“It’s ridiculously big.” ACE hid in the shadows beside the rocks, looking at the giant Originium Bug in front of him. “It looks like a snail carrying a volcano on its back.”

Skyfire, staff in hand, hid behind ACE: "This is a Lava Originium Worm that almost triggered a volcanic eruption. It dominates the entire volcano! It's definitely a formidable creature that you can spot at a glance!"

"Due to environmental factors, its attack power may be able to melt an entire heavy armor squad. That's beyond our capabilities. We just need to drive them back."

“Oh, that’s too easy.” ACE rolled his eyes. “Easy to say, but look at its size, this guy will probably require siege machinery to deal with.”