Asura in Arknights

ACE held his large shield in front of him and charged ruthlessly at the black remains. The remains' slow movements were completely negligible compared to ACE's speed.

Just as it opened its arms, seemingly wanting to embrace this uninvited prey, ACE's shield had already made direct contact with its face—

The barely recognizable human head was twisted and deformed by the impact of the shield, and the enormous shock created a visible ripple in the air.

ACE paused slightly, and the remains blocking his way were sent flying like cannonballs with a loud bang, slamming into the wall on the other side.

"...Wow, that's impressive."

Looking at ACE's back, Huang said blankly.

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and catch up!"

Hearing Huang's sigh, ACE said irritably.

Huang shrugged, turned to Li Ang and said, "Let's hurry up and go, those things behind us are about to get up again."

From beginning to end, neither of them had any intention of letting Li Ang take action.

Li Ang could only put the Rhodes Island standard longsword he had just drawn back in.

Are these Ayin's clones? How did they turn out like this? What strange experiments did he conduct on himself this time?

This doesn't seem to be one of the projects Li Ang knows about, nor does it seem to be a product of the 'Dream Project,' and... these things give Li Ang a strange sense of déjà vu.

However, there is no more time for Li Ang to think now.

He followed behind ACE and Huang, returning to the laboratory entrance as quickly as possible.

The battle here is much more intense than before, with Warfarin and the others facing three identical mutants at the same time.

With the absence of forwards ACE and Blaze, Candle Knight and Starry Sky had to step up.

Their weapons had relatively weak direct lethality; they relied more on Originium Arts to add other effects to their slender swords. Even ACE couldn't kill this mutant with a single blow, let alone the two of them.

At this moment, the two swords were shining with brilliant starlight and candlelight respectively, but they had little effect on the mutant, as if the magical effects on the swords had been completely absorbed.

Faced with these incredibly tough mutants, no matter how exquisite their swordsmanship was, they could only retreat step by step, unable to unleash much of its power.

"Use Originium Arts! Use magic!"

"I've already used it! But it's not working!"

Elena frantically waved her short staff, surrounded by several bright orbs of light that closely resembled the glow emanating from the constellation of Astronomy.

Although Elena appeared flustered, her hand movements were flawless.

Brilliant rainbow-colored rays shot out from the sphere of light, avoiding the Star and Candle Knight at the forefront, refracting back and forth on the three mutants, weaving into a beautiful yet deadly net of light.

Where the light swept across, the alloy wall instantly turned red-hot, demonstrating that the beams of light released by Elena were not just pretty to look at, but also had deadly destructive power.

However, these high-energy laser beams struck the mutant without causing any damage, not even leaving a trace.

What was happening before her eyes was completely challenging Elena's common sense. How could there be a creature in this world that even a high-energy laser could not harm?

Elena still lacked practical experience, and due to overexertion, she quickly became unable to maintain her Originium Arts. The few orbs of light around her dimmed at a visible speed.

Although she was unable to harm the mutants, Elena's Originium Arts still hindered their movements to some extent.

Now that Elena's firepower is gone, the mutants' offensive has become even more ferocious, and Viviana and Astro are in imminent danger.

Provence seized the opportunity to fire a few arrows, which had little effect, but helped the two escape danger.

Just then, Li Ang and his two companions returned.

"Hold on! We're coming!"

Seeing his companion in danger, ACE rushed to help without hesitation.

Having learned from their previous encounter, ACE had a pretty good grasp of the monster's weaknesses.

Although the mutants are incredibly tough, their purpose wasn't to kill these things in the first place.

They are very light, even lighter than a person of the same volume, which is the biggest weakness of these mutants.

Once they got close to the sides of the mutants, ACE used his shield to knock them flying one by one.

One of them landed right at Huang's feet, and without much hesitation, she swung her chainsaw and slashed at it.

The glowing red chainsaw struck the mutated kick's neck, cutting through with a painful creak.

Feeling the resistance coming from his arms, Huang's expression changed instantly.

"What the hell is this thing?! It's incredibly tough!? Even Rhodes Island's armor isn't this bad!"

Before, when Huang saw that ACE failed to smash a skull with one hammer, she didn't feel much. But after she actually used it, she realized how outrageous this thing was.

Now, the chainsaw is stuck in the mutant's neck, and Huang is unable to pull the weapon out.

As more mutants surged out from the depths of the passage, she gritted her teeth, her face flushed red, and put all her strength into it.

After a few seconds of stalemate, just as Huang's arm was starting to go weak, she finally felt a release in her hand, and the spinning chainsaw embedded itself deeply into the laboratory floor as if cutting tofu.

Before he could catch his breath, Huang hurriedly drew his weapon and retreated as if fleeing.

"Get out of here! Get out!"

ACE shouted, "It's too cramped here! Don't get entangled with these things!"

Chapter Sixty-Six: Hai Si Again?

Having witnessed how troublesome these strange creatures were, the group lost their will to continue fighting.

Under the cover of ACE and Huang, the group repelled the mutants and retreated from the laboratory in a very disheveled state.

Their original plan included the option of combat, although that was against infected creatures rather than this monster, but ACE quickly took over command of the team.

The division of labor among the three Rhodes Island personnel was very clear: former officer ACE was in charge of commanding the battle, the Cataclysmic Messenger Provence was in charge of guiding the negotiations in the contaminated zone, and Warfarin, as a high-ranking member of Rhodes Island, was responsible for liaising with representatives of the other two organizations and making some important decisions.

Now, it's time to fight.

"Keep retreating! Lead those things to a more open area!"

The cramped indoor environment was extremely disadvantageous for them. Although they could keep the number of enemies they faced at the same time to single digits, the problem was that... relying on just ACE and Huang, they probably couldn't even withstand a single digit of enemies. If their retreat was blocked, they would be finished.

So it would be better to lure those mutants to the ground, where they would at least be able to escape more easily in open areas.

Their goal wasn't to kill the mutants; if they could find a way to trap them for a while, they could also take the lab's contents and run away.

However, when they hurriedly ran back to the ground, they found that things had not turned out the way they had imagined.

“I said ACE…it seems those monsters haven’t caught up yet…”

Looking at the pitch-black passage behind him, which was completely silent, Huang couldn't help but scratch his head.

"...Knight, what's the situation in the lab right now?" ACE asked after a moment of silence.

After sensing the state inside the laboratory, Li Ang frowned and replied, "Those...those experimental subjects have returned to the laboratory, and it seems they have entered a dormant state."

This doesn't seem like something a mindless monster would do. Is something controlling them?

"A nest?" ACE had the same question in his mind.

No matter how you look at it, those mutants seem to have returned to their 'nest'.

"Never mind... Anyway, let's sort out our current situation first."

Putting that question aside for the moment, ACE asked, "Is anyone injured?"

Although the previous battle was very brief, it was intense. In those fleeting moments, a slight mistake could have resulted in serious injury.

Of course, ACE's biggest concern was whether the protective suits would be damaged, and whether Viviana, who wasn't wearing a protective suit, would be injured by those things.

Infection occurs through wounds, which is the most common mode of infection for that type of parasite. During the Kazdel Civil War, ACE saw many similar creatures.

As required by ACE, they checked each other's protective suits for damage.

After a thorough inspection, it was discovered that because ACE returned in time, they were not actually injured. Viviana's knight armor was not just for show; its defensive capabilities were not necessarily worse than their protective suits.

Even the most severely injured Xingji only had a five-centimeter-long scratch on his right arm, where he held the sword.

The scratches weren't deep and didn't penetrate the protective suit, so the quality of Rhodes Island's engineering department is still reliable.

“I should have been able to stop it,” Xingji said, frowning, “but my Constellation Guardian didn’t work very well against that monster.”

According to Astro Blade herself, while her constellation protection is not very effective against energy attacks, it is enough to withstand a bombardment from an Ursus heavy cannon, making it a very powerful defensive Originium Arts.

Because he had too much faith in his magic, he didn't expect it to be completely ineffective this time, and Xingji was caught off guard and unable to dodge.

"Yes, yes, I've never seen anything so hard before."

On the other side, Elena also complained, "I was so tired I almost collapsed... Even the high-temperature armor from the engineering department isn't this powerful; at least I could leave some marks."

"It's...it's like all the energy was absorbed..."

All the energy was absorbed?

What was said in jest was taken seriously by Li Ang; Elena's complaint was overheard.

Although it wasn't what was planned, Li Ang did indeed witness Elena's Originium Arts.

The dazzling light and shadow effects alone are enough to tell that the two sisters' Originium Arts originated from the same source.

Of course, like her sister Astesia, Elena's Originium Arts were also 'borrowed'. After observing their Originium Arts, Li Ang also discovered some clues.

Beneath the complex exterior of astrological magic lies a spell that merely serves to 'guide' and 'locate', but it differs from the modern Originium Arts theoretical system. Using the moon in the sky as a reference point, it makes what should be a simple spell a mess, and is more akin to Sarkaz 'witchcraft'.

Yes, it certainly fits the stereotype of 'astrological magic'.

Regardless of the origin of the Ubika sisters' magic, in terms of actual effect, Elena's attack power is indeed second to none among all Originium Arts. The only drawback may be that it consumes a lot of energy. If she goes all out, Elena cannot maintain it for more than a few seconds.

Even if Li Ang was unwilling to take the full force of Elena's beam head-on, how come the mutant was unharmed?

Perhaps, as Elena just casually mentioned, all the energy was absorbed.

"It's good that you weren't injured... But there's a question: how did you manage to provoke those things?"

After confirming that everyone was safe and sound, ACE remembered this question again.

ACE remembered very clearly that when he and Huang first discovered the remains, they didn't react at all. It was only after Elena screamed that the mutants suddenly became active. Elena must have done something to awaken them.

Upon hearing ACE's question, everyone turned to look at Elena.

"I...I don't know..."

Under everyone's gaze, Elena appeared completely innocent. "I just thought it was too dark there and wanted to use magic to light up the surroundings."

Just as Elena had said, she simply used her magic to create a light source. Before Elena could do anything, a corpse at her feet suddenly got up, startling Elena into screaming.

They all know what happened afterward.

"Used Originium Arts...and then awakened those things?"

ACE pinched his chin and said in confusion, "But if I remember correctly, you should still have the Originium Arts applied by Astro Blade on you at that time, right? Why didn't you react to it?"

In terms of spell type, the two sisters' Originium Arts originated from the same source, but their focuses were different.

In terms of energy intensity, the self-circulating shield and the light source used for illumination are about the same, with no significant difference.

Why was it Elena who awakened those mutants?

"I think...it's probably because of me?"

After a moment's thought, Li Ang offered his guess: "If those test subjects only reacted to astronomical spells, perhaps it was because my Originium Arts concealed the relevant characteristics? At the time, I was maintaining my Originium Arts."

The facts differed slightly from what Li Ang said, but the difference was not significant.

At the time, he was simply studying the unique features of the [Constellation Guardian] on his body, and perhaps it was this action that prevented the awakening of those mutants.

"Why would our family's magic awaken these strange things?" Elena snorted, sounding annoyed.

Although Elena wasn't particularly interested in the magic passed down in her family, she didn't want astrological magic to be associated with these strange things.

What Elena didn't notice was that her sister didn't seem angry at all when she heard ACE's guess.

Xingji frowned, as if he had remembered something.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just guessing. If you think about it carefully, you'll see there are many flaws."

The most obvious example is Viviana, who also maintained a magical shield throughout the entire process. Her Originium energy reacts much more strongly than others, yet she didn't show any particular reaction.

In conclusion, ACE's explanation, which came up on a whim, is clearly unreliable.

"Doctor, what should we do next? Should we go back to rest, or try to draw those things out?" ACE asked.

"Try again... Wait, let me think about it carefully."

Warfarin glanced at Li Ang and, seeing that he didn't intend to speak, raised her hand to signal the others to be quiet, giving herself some time to think.