Asura in Arknights

Upon hearing Li Ang's question, Sona immediately thought of the evil spells described in those novels.

An evil sorcerer... well, usually an evil Lytanian sorcerer.

The Casimir and Leitania have had many conflicts throughout history, so many of the villains in the chivalric novels that have been passed down in the Casimir region are based on Leitanians.

For example, there is a certain Witch King who wishes to remain anonymous, and even now he is still the most promising contender for the villainous boss.

Letania was quite pleased with this and helped to smear the Witch King.

Among the many evil deeds committed by villains, mind control is arguably the most despicable and shameful method.

No one can accept losing their own will and becoming someone else's puppet.

But what just happened was very similar to what was described in the novel. Under the influence of evil magic, the infected, who had lost their minds, were frantically destroying everything that had been so hard-won.

"How could that be? That's just fiction."

Upon hearing Sona's guess, before anyone else could speak, Aivona loudly retorted.

"I know! Sona, you weren't secretly staying up late reading novels again, were you?"

"No way!"

Sona immediately retorted, "I just think they look somewhat similar."

Don't you all think so?

They understood what Sona was saying. Which child in this country hadn't read a few stories about the Knights of Casimir versus the Wizards of Letania?

Not to mention that all four of them longed to be knights; otherwise, they wouldn't have overcome countless difficulties to come to the Great Knight Territory after becoming infected, hoping to become knights themselves.

"No matter how similar they are, they are just stories."

"Of course I know..." Sona sighed and said pitifully, "Little Grey, can't you just cooperate with me for once?"

"Of course not."

Granati refused without expression.

Just as Sona was about to complain a few more times about Granati's cold-heartedness, she suddenly heard Leon say,

“That possibility can be ruled out. I just checked and there are no traces of Originium Arts.”

"Oh, so it was already ruled out..."

Sona nodded subconsciously, but a moment later she suddenly realized something was wrong; Li Ang had not denied the existence of mind control magic.

"Wait, such magic really exists!?"

“Although it’s rare, this kind of magic does exist,” Li Ang replied casually.

They even have spells that can transfer souls; mind control is just a piece of cake for them. Yi has already mastered this ability to an extreme degree.

Ignoring the uproar over the four minor incidents, Li Ang bent down and asked Adele, "Adele, did you find something?"

At this moment, Adele was crouching beside a dark red bloodstain, her hands gleaming with the light of Originium Arts.

“There seems to be something special in the air,” Adele replied.

Could it be... medicine?

Li Ang frowned slightly.

He preferred to believe that those people were under the influence of magic.

It's possible for infected individuals to awaken all sorts of strange Originium Arts. If those people are controlled by magic, it's just that one of the infected individuals got arrogant and overconfident. We just need to find the culprit and deal with them.

But if it's the effect of medication... things suddenly become complicated.

First of all, Pol Pharmaceuticals is the industry leader in Casimir. Even if it loses a few bites, it doesn't matter, since the board of directors can't take away Pol Pharmaceuticals' patents.

The losses from the death of Manager A will not be apparent for at least several years, and patent barriers are not so easy to overcome.

An unknown drug has appeared in Li Ang's territory, causing a riot among the infected.

If it's just a regular hallucinogenic drug, that's fine. But what if it's something new and unfamiliar? This means that foreign forces have their eyes on this lucrative opportunity.

Columbia? Victoria? Or did the Gemini Queen send someone to target them?

"Can you separate that substance? Just a little bit will do." Li Ang's expression turned serious.

If the situation is serious, it may even be necessary to notify the Grand Knight Commander.

"I'll give it a try."

Adele nodded slightly, and the brilliance of Originium Arts intensified. A small vortex formed in her hand, and the surrounding air continuously flowed into it.

This spell was used by Adele to analyze the composition of the air near the volcano.

When a volcano is about to erupt, the crater will release a large amount of sulfur-containing gas. Adele can use magic to separate these sulfur-containing gases and use them to infer the volcano's activity.

This is a spell commonly used in laboratories, and Adele has become very proficient in it after using it for over a decade.

While Leon can take unconventional approaches and surpass Adele in sheer destructive power, he is no match for Adele when it comes to research-based spells that require experience.

Time ticked by, and just as Adele had almost filtered through all the air on the street, the center of the small vortex finally shifted.

"It worked!" Adele exclaimed in delight.

A drop of dark blue liquid floated quietly in Adele's palm.

“We found it too late, and this is all we could collect,” Adele said with some frustration.

"That's enough."

As long as it can be confirmed that those people were indeed affected by the unknown drug, that's enough; this drop of liquid is sufficient for analyzing its components.

Those infected individuals who were arrested likely still have a significant amount of this substance remaining in their bodies.

After obtaining a clean glass bottle from Sona and putting the drop of liquid inside, Leon handed the bottle to a Rhodes Island operator who had noticed the anomaly and rushed over to investigate. He explained the situation and asked the operator to help deliver the drop of liquid to Rhodes Island for analysis.

After doing all this, Li Ang spoke to Sona.

"You should know where that hometown association's headquarters is, right? Can you take us there directly?"

Chapter Twenty: Radom Hometown Association

"...Can I refuse? But I will tell you where the Radom Association's headquarters is."

Sona frowned; she really didn't want to get involved in such troublesome matters.

Sona had already sensed something was wrong when the Caprini girl separated that drop of dark blue liquid from the air.

"Don't worry, I will pay you."

As he spoke, Li Ang took out five of the highest denomination banknotes from his wallet, totaling 5000 marks.

Sona remained unmoved.

A mere five thousand marks is only a week's worth of their bakery's earnings.

Li Ang then pulled out five more identical banknotes and raised the price to 10000 marks.

Sona's eyes flickered.

Turnover is not simply profit. In this infected area, they don't earn much to begin with, and 10,000 marks is already a considerable income.

However, this was not enough to win Sona's heart.

Evona clearly wanted to say something, but was stopped by Grenati and Justina.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Li Ang simply took out all the cash he had on him, which amounted to about 30,000 marks.

"This is all the cash I have on me."

Li Ang showed his empty wallet and shrugged helplessly.

Who carries so much cash around when they go out? This money was specially exchanged for emergencies, and now he's taken it all out.

"I have some here too."

Although she didn't understand why Leon insisted on hiring Sona, Adele still took out all the money she had on her.

Adding this to the amount Li Ang had previously contributed, it now amounted to a huge sum of nearly 40,000 marks.

"I……"

Sona's pupils dilated violently; the smell of ink emanating from the banknotes constantly assaulted her senses.

She wasn't some saint who viewed money as dirt; Sona knew all too well how expensive life was in this city.

Not to mention that they had just suffered an undeserved disaster, with thugs smashing many things in the store, which was another considerable expense.

It wasn't that Sona lacked willpower, but rather that Li Ang had given her far too much.

Just as she was hesitating, Barry suddenly jumped out, staring eagerly at the stack of banknotes in Li Ang's hand.

“I can take you there! I know where their stronghold is.”

Hearing Barry's voice, Sona calmed down and waved the boy from the film to the side, saying, "Go away, this is not a place for you to cause trouble."

“But Commander… I’m not a child anymore,” Barry said, sounding very aggrieved. “I also want to do something for everyone in the Red Pine Knights…”

Sona was silent for a moment before slowly saying, "This is dangerous. I can do it."

After saying that, Sona extended her hand to Leon, "I agree to your request."

"Pleasant to work with."

With a smile, Leon placed the 40,000 marks into Sona's hand.

Clutching the large sum of money, Sona's expression kept changing. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh and put the banknotes into her pocket.

"Wait here for me a moment, I need to make some preparations."

As Sona said this, she turned and walked into the bakery.

As she passed Granati again, Granati asked her, "Do you need my help?"

“No need.” Sona shook her head. “I can manage on my own. Your weapon isn’t suitable for that kind of terrain.”

“Hmm.” Granati nodded.

"And Little Grey, keep an eye on that girl Evora, don't let her do anything stupid."

"clear."

"Who would do something stupid?!"

Amidst Aivona's protests, Sona returned to the bakery.

Not long after, Sona changed into a light armor set with a bright silver main color.

Like most knights, this armor only used metal in a few key areas, while the rest was made of cheap leather. Its decorative function far outweighed its practical effect, and its defensive capabilities were negligible.

However, for Sona, this light armor and that one-handed sword were already the most valuable pieces of equipment she owned.

"I'm ready, let's go," Sona said, her small face tense.

After exchanging a glance with Adele, the two silently followed Sona's steps.

Instead of taking the main road, she led the two through the gaps between buildings, along a very strange path towards the industrial area.

Seemingly anticipating their questions, before Li Ang could even ask, Sona proactively explained, "This route avoids most of the surveillance cameras; I don't want to get into trouble."

On the way to the industrial area, Sona also told them what the Radom Hometown Association was.

The so-called Radom Hometown Association, as the name suggests, is a mutual aid organization established by a group of infected people who came from the town of Radom.

The town had recently suffered a natural disaster, the same one that Kane had created more than three months ago.

The town of Ladom was within the area affected by the natural disaster, but they did not receive timely warnings from the disaster messengers.

By the time they realized what was happening and prepared to evacuate, it was already too late.

Although many people survived, most of them contracted oresphyne disease due to pollution caused by the natural disaster.

With the town destroyed, they had nowhere to survive, so they gradually entered the Great Knight Territory by smuggling themselves in. Sona and the others also left the arena around this time.

Sona had previously used these people's identities, so she paid close attention to what they were doing.

Once Plot Zero was officially put into use, these refugees were already among the priority recipients, so most of them were selected to enter Plot Zero.

The Radom Association was established around this time. They were the most conspicuous troublemakers in the industrial area, and it was hard not to notice them.

“Their leader is a man named Lucifer, who was said to have been a knight in arms but retired due to injury,” Sona said in a low voice. “Their stronghold is in the scrap yard behind the factory dormitory, where a lot of leftover building materials are piled up, and the scrap products produced by the factory are also dumped there.”

“It’s more complicated than a maze now, and it’s the best hiding place in this area.”