Arknights: Soul Knights of Terra — Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Alina Uses Summoning Magic, It’s Super Effective

The night deepened into a suffocating chill. On the wooden table, the prepared meal had long since gone cold, a thick layer of congealed grease floating atop the stagnant soup.

The old woman paced restlessly, her worn boots scuffing against the floorboards. She stopped at the frosted window yet again, rubbing away the condensation with a trembling sleeve to peer into the howling blizzard outside.

“Where on earth… has that child gone…”

“Grandma, don’t worry so much.”

Alina set down the cold bowl she had been holding, her voice a gentle, grounding warmth in the drafty room. She stepped forward, wrapping a comforting hand around the old woman’s frail shoulders.

“Little Tal is very strong, have you forgotten? Just last time, she killed that Rift Beast—the one taller than our front door—with a single strike of her sword.”

She supported the old woman by her arm and gently urged her away from the glass. “Stop pacing here. Go and rest first. I’ll wait up for her.”

The old woman looked into Alina’s determined eyes and finally let out a long, exhausted sigh. “Alright… don’t stay up too late. Try to get some sleep.”

After settling her grandmother into the bedroom, Alina turned to her grandfather, who was still sitting silently by the dying charcoal fire.

“Grandpa, you should go to sleep too.” Alina crouched beside him, speaking softly.

The old man shook his head, his weathered face illuminated by the dancing embers.

Alina reached out and took his rough, calloused hand. “I’ll keep watch. I’ll wake you the second there’s any movement outside.”

Under his granddaughter’s stubborn yet concerned gaze, the old man finally compromised. “Then… you get some rest soon, too.”

“Mhm, I know.” Alina nodded.

Time bled away. The lights in the small cabin were extinguished, plunging the room into heavy silence.

In the darkness, the rustle of heavy fabric echoed softly. Alina wrapped her winter cloak tightly around her shoulders and tiptoed along the wall, her fingers brushing against the freezing wooden handle of a woodcutting axe.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

The sudden voice made Alina jump. She clutched her chest and spun around, her cheeks burning with embarrassment in the dark. Grandpa was standing at the doorway of the inner room, fully dressed in his heavy winter gear.

“Grandpa…” she mumbled.

“You were going to go out and look for her by yourself, weren’t you?”

Alina lowered her head, hiding her hands behind her back like a child caught stealing sweets.

“Sigh…” The old man breathed out heavily. He said nothing more, simply walking over to pick up the battered oil lantern leaning against the wall. He unlatched the heavy wooden door. “Let’s go together. Be quiet, don’t wake your grandma.”

He stepped out into the freezing wind first. Alina opened her mouth to protest, but ultimately swallowed her words and followed him.

Just as they were about to cross the threshold of the courtyard, Alina suddenly stopped. “Wait, Grandpa.”

She darted back into the house, handling by the dim moonlight filtering through the window. She hurried to an old drawer against the wall, rummaging through it carefully.

“Alina?” Grandpa’s hushed, urgent voice drifted in from the cold.

Alina found what she was looking for. She carefully tucked the strange seeds into the inner lining of her coat and gently pulled the door shut behind her. “Coming.”

The dirt road that usually led to town was entirely buried under snowdrifts. The two struggled forward, fighting against the biting wind.

“Little Tal—where are you—”

Alina’s voice was instantly ripped away and swallowed by the gale. As they trekked further from the cabin, the blizzard grew increasingly violent. Icy snowflakes pelted their faces like glass shards, and the lantern’s weak glow swayed violently in the wind, illuminating only a tiny, shifting patch of snow at their boots.

“…Alina, let’s go back for now.” Grandpa squinted into the blinding white, then looked down at Alina’s freezing, red hands. He let out a heavy sigh. “If we keep going blindly like this, we’ll just get lost and freeze out here…”

Alina’s eyes were swimming with unresolvable worry, but she knew he was right. She obediently nodded.

Just as the two turned to retrace their steps, the harsh, grating sound of human voices cut through the howling wind.

“Bloody hell! Why is this snow getting heavier and heavier?!”

“It’s all those damn Infected’s fault! If the filthy rocks had just honestly let us collar them, we wouldn’t be freezing our asses off out here!”

“Shut your mouth and keep moving! How much further to the nearest village?”

“Almost there… Wait! Is there a light ahead?!”

The old man’s heart dropped into his stomach. He instantly threw his heavy cloak over the lantern, smothering the light and plunging them into total darkness. He grabbed Alina’s arm, his grip painfully tight.

“Run! It’s the Black Bugs!”

The two bolted toward the village, stumbling blindly through the deep snowdrifts. But how could an old man and a young girl possibly outrun a squad of well-equipped, prime-aged Ursus soldiers?

“Stop! Take one more step and we shoot!”

The lethal, mechanical click of crossbows being drawn echoed from behind them. The two stopped abruptly. Grandpa squeezed his granddaughter’s freezing hand, yanking her behind his back.

He slowly turned around, forcing a servile, trembling smile onto his face. “Masters… is something the matter? Have you lost your way in the storm?”

“You old bastard, you can run pretty fast, huh?!” A Patrol Team member marched up, spitting curses. He reached out to grab the old man’s collar, but hesitated when he saw the heavy woodcutting axe clutched tightly in his grip. “Drop the weapon!”

The old man remained silent. He obediently knelt, placing the axe and the hidden lantern gently onto the snowy ground, then raised his hands to show he was no threat.

“Who’s hiding behind you? Drag ’em out!” Another soldier barked, his hand resting menacingly on the hilt of his military saber.

The smile on the old man’s face became even more pathetic and fawning. “Masters, please, that’s just my granddaughter behind me. She’s young, easily frightened…”

“Frightened… afraid of us, is she?” The soldier sneered, slowly drawing his steel blade an inch from its scabbard. “Make her come out! Or what… is she an Infected?!”

Alina’s grip on her cloak tightened. Hardening her resolve, she stepped out from behind her grandfather’s protective shadow.

Seeing her wearing a heavy hood that completely concealed her features, several soldiers subconsciously took a half-step back, hands hovering over their weapons. But once they realized her small, slender stature didn’t match the dangerous targets in their bounties, their arrogance immediately returned.

“Take off the hood! And your hands, show them to us!”

Alina complied. She pulled back the fabric and held out her hands. Her slender wrists and palms were perfectly clean, devoid of any black Originium crystals.

“Not an Infected?” The soldier’s voice cooled slightly, tinged with disappointment. He resentfully shoved his saber back into its sheath and waved his hand. “Fine. Consider yourselves lucky.”

“Lead the way for us. Where is the nearest village?”

The old man’s body tensed instantly. His lips pressed into a hard, straight line.

The lead soldier’s voice dropped, dripping with sudden suspicion and malice. “What’s with that look… is your village hiding Infected?”

“Why are you wasting words on this old rat?!” Another soldier, long since out of patience, strode forward and lunged directly at Alina. “I bet she is an Infected! Why else would she be sneaking around in the dark?!”

“Masters! I know where there are Infected!”

The old man’s sudden, desperate shout instantly drew everyone’s attention. The soldiers stopped and looked at him in unison.

“Where?!” The lead soldier pressed, temporarily ignoring the girl.

“Over there!”

Just as the soldiers turned their heads to look into the blizzard, the old man viciously kicked the lantern on the ground with his heavy boot.

Crash!

The glass cover shattered. Burning lamp oil and sparks exploded outward, splashing directly onto the front line of soldiers.

“Agh!”

“My clothes! I’m on fire!”

Screams and furious curses erupted. The soldiers dropped their weapons, scrambling frantically to beat out the flames eating at their uniforms.

“Run!!!” The old man grabbed Alina’s arm and dragged her away, sprinting wildly in the opposite direction of the village.

“You dead old rat! You dare play us!?”

The soldiers, having smothered the flames, were absolutely livid. Roaring with fury, they raised their crossbows, aimed at the fleeing old man’s back, and pulled the triggers.

Thwip!

A heavy steel bolt tore through the old man’s shoulder. Blood sprayed into the freezing air, a few warm, crimson drops splashing directly onto Alina’s pale cheek.

“Grandpa!!”

The old man swallowed his scream of agony. He ripped off his heavy outer cloak and hurled it backward, letting the wind carry it directly into the faces of his pursuers to block their line of sight. Without missing a beat, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the legs of the fastest soldier charging at them.

“Don’t worry about me! Run, Alina, quickly!” The old man shouted at the top of his lungs, his arms locking around the soldier’s knees like iron bands.

“Damn you!!!” The soldier, his head and face tangled in the heavy cloak, was both shocked and enraged. He swung his armored fist down, smashing it brutally against the back of the old man’s head.

The old man let out a pained grunt, his grip slipping slightly.

In a fit of pure rage, the soldier raised his leg and drove his heavy, steel-toed military boot directly into the old man’s abdomen.

The sickening impact forced the air from the old man’s lungs. He could no longer hold on. His hands fell away powerlessly, and his body rolled across the bloodstained snow.

The soldier tore the cloak off his head, his face twisted in brutal fury. He drew his military saber, raising it high to execute the bleeding man on the ground.

Alina’s pupils constricted to pinpricks. Instinct completely took over. She reached into her lining, pulled out the hard object she had taken from the house, and hurled it violently at the executioner.

Whoosh—

The hard, black seed struck the soldier’s metal mask with a sharp clack before tumbling harmlessly into the snow.

The soldier slowly turned his head. He glared at the girl who had dared to throw a pebble at him, killing intent boiling in his eyes. “You little bit—”

Thwip—RUMBLE.

Before the curse could leave his mouth, the earth violently ruptured. Massive vines, thick as tree trunks and pulsing with eerie, glowing patterns, erupted from the permafrost beneath his boots. They speared upward with terrifying velocity, piercing straight through the soldier’s chest and lifting his screaming body high into the air.

“What the hell is that?!”

The two soldiers rushing up from behind froze in horror. But before they could even raise their weapons, the colossal vine bent backward like a drawn bow. It whipped horizontally, using the impaled, twitching body of their comrade as a bludgeon.

Bang! Bang!

The massive vine slammed into their torsos. The sheer kinetic force folded the two soldiers into sickening U-shapes, launching them through the air. They smashed into the snowdrifts tens of meters away, rolling like broken ragdolls before coming to a complete, dead stop.

The remaining soldiers slammed on the brakes, scrambling backward in absolute terror, their voices cracking. “Da-damn it… using Arts without a staff… She really is an Infected! A witch!”

The survivors retreated frantically, not stopping until they were certain they were out of range of the writhing, monstrous flora.

Alina snapped out of her momentary daze. She couldn’t afford to care about the terrifying nature of the vines right now. She threw herself into the snow, struggling to drag her heavily injured grandfather under the protective canopy of the thick roots.

The old man’s face was deathly pale. Blood poured from his shoulder wound, melting the snow beneath him into a grim crimson puddle.

Alina held his freezing body tightly against her chest, desperately trying to share her own body heat to keep him awake. “It’s… it’s okay, Grandpa…” Her voice shook violently. She didn’t know if she was trying to comfort him or herself.

In the distance, the surviving Patrol Team members gradually realized they weren’t being pursued. They noticed the roots of the terrifying vines were deeply anchored into the permafrost.

“It can’t move!” someone shouted, pointing at the stationary flora.

Their viciousness reignited. Humiliated and furious, they raised their crossbows, aiming the lethal bolts directly at the old man and the young girl huddled together beneath the roots.

“Go to hell, Infected scum!”

The bowstrings snapped. The steel bolts whistled through the blizzard, carrying certain death toward the two defenseless targets.

Alina squeezed her eyes shut, curling her body entirely over the old man to shield him from the volley.

But the piercing agony she braced for never arrived. Instead, the howling wind was pierced by the terrified, high-pitched screams of the Ursus soldiers.

“What is that now?!”

Alina slowly opened her eyes and looked up.

A pair of glowing crimson eyes stared back at her. A massive, flowing beast made entirely of pitch-black shadows had risen from the darkness, its imposing body acting as an impenetrable wall that effortlessly absorbed the crossbow bolts.

A look of absolute shock, followed instantly by overwhelming relief, bloomed on Alina’s face. “It’s you… Mr. Wolf!?”

“Awooo?” The Shadow Wolf tilted its massive head, seemingly confused by the polite title, before casually stepping aside to make room.

From the exact same pool of shifting darkness, a second figure was rising.

The soldiers instantly realized the situation had spiraled completely out of their control. The smarter ones began quietly backing away into the blizzard, while the ones blinded by bloodlust hastily notched new arrows, turning their sights onto the newly manifested target.

Clang!

A sharp, metallic ring echoed through the clearing. The steel crossbow bolt struck a hard, pale skull mask dead center, failing to leave even a microscopic scratch before ricocheting harmlessly into the snow.

Having just been shot in the back of the head, Gusi slowly turned around. The ominous crimson glow burning behind his eye sockets locked onto the attackers. He recognized those familiar, loathsome uniforms instantly.

“…Patrol Team?”