Arknights: Studying medicine can't save Terra

The Sarkaz woman was still somewhat pale, clearly not yet recovered from the aftershocks of the previous battle between the gods.

Ines gave a cryptic smile and asked the Sarkaz woman:

"Ersula, if I say I'm willing to sell Hadley to you, could you spare our lives?"

The Sarkaz woman named Ersula did not rush to answer. She searched her body for a moment, but could not find any wine. She then sighed with a worried expression on her face.

She looked up.

At this moment, they were in a huge cave, with the skeletal beast hovering quietly above them. No one knew whether it had fallen into a deep sleep again or was contemplating something incomprehensible to mortals.

Hedley sniffed lightly, then frowned and said:

"Ersula, I never expected to meet you here, in this way. You should have been waiting in Kazdel to inherit the Scar Market."

Besides, you used to be a teetotaler, but now you reek of alcohol.

Ersula turned her gaze away and looked at her old mercenary friends.

She smiled, but the smile carried an undeniable bitterness:

"I was indeed a bit disheveled, and I did start to become addicted to alcohol, but the smell on me was definitely not from alcoholism. I still pay quite a bit of attention to personal hygiene."

However, that big guy above us wasn't very considerate; he spilled wine all over me. If I could, I'd like to wash myself clean before we meet again.

“It’s you and him, I haven’t missed you at all,” Ines interjected with a blank expression.

Hedley: "..."

Ersula crossed her arms, her gaze shifting between Hadley and Ines before finally settling on Hadley.

The Sarkaz behind her exchanged bewildered glances, all somewhat confused about the situation.

"Aren't we here to arrest people?"

"Hiss, don't talk nonsense, something's up, it seems a bit explosive!"

“I remember that man, his name was Hadley, he was a mercenary and also a scholar… Do you think I still have a chance to start studying now?”

A group of burly Sarkaz began to whisper among themselves, and even though they tried to keep their voices down, it still reached the ears of Hadley and the others clearly in the empty cave.

Hedley's expression turned strange.

He never dreamed that his painstaking efforts to make the Sarkaz realize the importance of learning would begin to sprout in such an absurd way.

Ines and Ersula remained silent, staring intently at Hadley.

Surrounded by the gazes of the two men, Hedley was sweating profusely.

"Hedley, you're still the same as ever."

Finally, Ersula broke the silence, shifting her gaze from Hadley and Ines to the two people behind them:

“You’re still taking her around, and… your group is getting even stranger. In addition to Ines, there’s another one, Sakota.”

Ersula spoke these words with a playful tone and a broad smile on her face.

But Arturo couldn't laugh.

A Sarkaz has fallen into the Sarkaz's lair.

This is not funny.

She really wanted to go back to Qi Yan now. As long as Qi Yan didn't sing, no matter how much trouble he caused, it would be better than the current situation.

At least with Qi Yan by his side, Arturo doesn't have to worry about becoming a monster.

Chapter 738 On this land, being an ancestor is also a high-risk profession.

Arturo felt extremely uncomfortable being targeted by Ersula and instinctively wanted to hide behind W.

But W's mind was not on the scene at all. His gaze kept wandering in the cave, scanning the badly damaged airship again and again, as if trying to find someone.

Her search was destined to be fruitless.

W's expression darkened as he fixed his gaze on Ersula and questioned her:

"where is she?"

The abrupt question startled Ersula.

Not only did she not understand W's problem, she also couldn't understand where W's confidence to question her came from, given her situation.

Ersula turned her head and glanced at the Sarkaz behind her.

Although these Sarkaz were muttering random things, they clearly had no intention of switching sides to W's side.

"Have you misunderstood something?" Ersula asked, puzzled. "Now it's me who surrounds you."

The sound of a gun being cocked was particularly crisp in the cave.

W raised his grenade launcher in one hand and held several bombs in the other, his expression grim as he said:

"Judging from your attire, you've already risen to the upper echelons of the Sarkaz Military Council. Well then, I'll ask you some questions."

Why did Her Highness appear in Victoria? What did you do to her?

Ersula's expression gradually turned serious, and she waved to signal the Sarkaz behind her, who had raised their weapons, to calm down.

She looked directly at W and slowly said:

“You’ve misunderstood a lot. First, I’m not qualified to participate in that level of discussion. Second, Her Highness made her choice, that’s all.”

"You're talking nonsense!" W roared. "You know you didn't ask that question!"

"Then what do you want to ask?"

"How dare you defile His Highness's death!"

W became increasingly agitated as he spoke, almost wanting to shove his gun into Ersula's mouth.

Arturo quickly grabbed W's arm, trying his best to stop the madman from going crazy.

If you can live, why seek death?

W and the others might be spared by the Sarkaz, and even if they die, it's just a matter of being cut down with a single blow. But this poor Sarkaz, she'd probably have every single hair plucked out and burned to ashes.

Ersula was given a severe scolding by W, and her expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

She looked at Hadley and said unhappily:

"Aren't you going to do anything about this little lunatic you've raised?"

“She’s no longer under my control,” Hedley said with a slight smile. “In fact, apart from Qi Yan, no one on this land can control her.”

"To hell with Qi Yan, no one can control me today!"

W yelled, straining her neck, "I'm in a terrible mood right now, I have to blow something up!"

"How about we target our old ancestor who's currently recovering from his injuries?" Hadley surprisingly suggested with a smile.

Ersula: ?!

She looked at Ines in disbelief: "Aren't you going to do anything about them?"

Ines finally smiled: "W has been holding back until now, just waiting for me to be ready. Why should I care?"

Under Ersula's shocked and furious gaze, Ines suddenly activated Originium Arts.

The light in the cave was already dim and chaotic. The moment Ines activated her Originium Arts, the shadows of all people and objects seemed to be pulled and distorted by an invisible hand.

Ersula felt her body being restrained, and even though this large-scale restraint could only limit her for a moment, it was enough for W to do many things.

The grenade launcher was aimed at the badly damaged airship, and W frantically pulled the trigger, firing one grenade after another.

The explosion engulfed the airship in an instant, but W's outburst continued.

Explosives flew out of W's hands in a continuous stream, seemingly thrown around haphazardly, but the explosion range was precisely controlled, blasting a gap in the Sarkaz's encirclement.

Without the violin as his spellcasting unit, Arturo clung tightly to W's clothes, like an accessory, as he followed the mercenary trio who suddenly started running and fled for their lives.

"Stop them!"

The moment Ersula regained control of her body, she issued the command.

Hedley charged ahead, swatting away the Sarkaz in front of him with his greatsword, his gaze calmly sweeping across the cave.

"Let's go up there, onto that giant skeletal beast!"

Some outrageous commands came from Hadley's mouth.

But Ines and W did not hesitate at all and decisively set their sights on the skeletal behemoth.

The twisted shadows in the cave kept tearing at Sarkaz's body, and the bombs always landed at the most opportune time where they were needed, perfectly complementing Ines's Originium Arts.

Hedley wielded his greatsword with great force, doing his best to block all the incoming ranged attacks.

Wounds kept appearing on his body, but they could not stop him from moving forward.

The situation seemed to have been successfully reversed by the three men's sudden attack.

Ines's brow furrowed more and more, and she glanced at Hadley's shadow more and more often as she charged forward.

"Hedley, the wounds you sustained from Theresis's attack..."

"Jump up by stepping on my back!"

Hedley interrupted Ines, rushed to a boulder, and bent down to expose his back.

Seeing this, Ines gritted her teeth, not daring to miss this opportunity. She leaped up and stepped on Hadley's back, her figure gracefully soaring into the air towards a nerve bundle hanging down from the giant skeletal beast.

Just as her fingers were about to touch the nerve bundle, a red magical light struck her waist precisely.

Ines let out a muffled groan, her weapon flew out of her hand, and she lost control of her body, falling into the distance.

A hint of reluctance flashed across Ersula's face, but she immediately suppressed it, and activated Originium Arts again, transforming it into a red spell that attacked Ines.

Unable to gain any leverage while suspended in mid-air, Ines flung out her last black dagger to meet the incoming spell.

The short sword collided with the spell and was instantly knocked away, spinning high into the air and piercing one of the skeletal behemoth's ribs.

“Ines…”

Ersula sighed, gathered her Originium Arts once more, and swung them toward Ines, who had not yet landed and was no longer able to resist.

As Ines continued to fall, she ignored the spells aimed at her, her gaze fixed on the three men, Hadley and the others, who were getting further and further away from her.

After the initial chaos, the large number of Sarkaz had successfully suppressed Hedley and his two companions with their numerical advantage. No matter how densely W's bombs were deployed, they could not stop their approaching lines.

"Honestly, I hope my luck hasn't run out yet." Ines chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I'll sleep a little longer, everyone, so I don't wake you up."

She raised her arm and stretched out her five fingers as wide as she could towards the giant beast's skeleton.

Several dark red silk threads were visible at her fingertips, the other end of which was firmly tied to the end of the hilt of the short sword.

The fluctuations of Originium Arts spread rapidly along the threads, reaching the skeletal behemoth in the blink of an eye.

The giant beast's shadow twisted slightly. Ines used the silk threads to dodge Ersula's spell at the last second, then manipulated the giant beast's shadow to pull the silk threads toward the short sword.

As she ascended into the air, Ines could not avoid sensing the information relayed from the giant beast's shadow.

Her expression suddenly changed: "You're still awake?!"

"Yeah, I'm having trouble sleeping."

An ancient voice echoed in Ines's heart, and then the giant skeleton stretched and swayed its body gently.

What seemed like a slight movement to Him became an irresistible force for Ines.

The short sword shattered suddenly, and all the threads broke.

Ines lost her support and began to fall again.

Hedley had been keeping a close eye on Ines's situation and acted immediately upon discovering that she was in danger.

W's bomb appeared just in time on the road ahead of Hadley, detonating the rocky floor of the cave and raising a cloud of dust.

Hedley activated his Originium Arts, and the embers from the explosion transformed into steps under his control, allowing him to use them to rush towards Ines.

Ersula, observing the situation from a distance, remained expressionless, but could see through Hadreh's forced composure.

“Your steps are already unsteady, and your clothes are soaked in blood. These are not injuries we caused to you.”

Ersula said with a hint of helplessness, "Why bother? You know very well that if you choose to admit defeat, I won't kill you. What kind of will makes you so determined to stand against the Sarkaz?"

Red magic coalesced at her fingertips, aimed at the approaching Hedley and his companion in mid-air.