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ArabicArknights: Soul Knights of Terra — Chapter 22
Chapter 22: All Talents Activated!
The Third Brother’s figure materialized within the Vitality Hall, instantly hit by an atmosphere so thick it felt like solid lead.
Across the room, the Second’s face was livid, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. The Fourth Brother stood beside her, his head hung low in utter dejection. Looming over them both was the Eldest Brother, his massive, lava-composed body churning restlessly, looking like a volcano mere seconds away from a catastrophic eruption.
Third immediately stepped forward, his voice laced with anxiety. “What’s going on? How could that child wander into the Dungeon?”
“Why don’t you ask him!” Second snapped, jabbing a furious finger at Fourth. She was barely suppressing her rage.
Fourth lowered his head even further, the air pressure around him dropping to an abysmal low.
Third felt a sharp tightness in his chest. He knew this was no time to assign blame and hurriedly tried to smooth things over. “Now isn’t the time to point fingers. The most important thing is—”
“You’re still making excuses for him!” Second interrupted sharply, her glare cutting him off. “If it weren’t for his blatant dereliction of duty, how could that child ever—”
[Enough!!!]
The Eldest Brother’s voice exploded directly inside their minds through the mental chat. His magma body sputtered violently, throwing scorching sparks across the stone floor as his agitation peaked.
The Hall fell dead silent, leaving only a suffocating, heavy tension in the air.
Eldest sighed heavily. A wave of blistering breath mixed with embers spewed from his jaws.
[Now is not the time to debate right and wrong. We must hurry.]
[Although the starting room of the Dungeon is usually devoid of monsters, no one can guarantee that Ifrit won’t accidentally wander into a hostile zone!]
He looked down at the three of them, his mental voice ringing with absolute determination.
[That child… I brought her back. The responsibility is mine alone.]
[I will enter the Dungeon to retrieve her. Before I do, the rest of you stay here and prepare to provide support…]
“What kind of stupid nonsense are you spouting!?” Second roared the very second his mental broadcast ended.
Third and Fourth exchanged strange, strained expressions. The previously quiet atmosphere instantly snapped back into a hostile standoff.
“What do you think we are!?” Second demanded, her voice dripping with venomous anger. “If you aren’t afraid, do you honestly think we would be!?!”
[I didn’t mean it like that!] Eldest retorted, clearly provoked by her aggressive tone. The gurgling sound of churning lava within his chest grew deafeningly loud.
[Why are you yelling at me!?! Don’t you know my abilities?]
[What is wrong with me, the strongest among us, going in to explore the Dungeon!?! Or are you saying you don’t trust me!]
“Of course we trust you!”
[Then why are you stopping me! I was clearly just worried about you all when I—]
“Because we are worried about you too!!!” Second’s voice rose to a piercing shriek. She stared fixedly at the towering lava giant, refusing to back down an inch.
“Do you think you’re the only one who cares about that child? The only one with a sense of responsibility? Is excluding us from the danger what you call ‘worry’!?”
“You arrogant jerk!!!”
Her roar echoed off the high stone walls of the Vitality Hall. Eldest stared blankly at her, completely caught off guard by the raw emotion tearing through her usually cold demeanor.
Third and Fourth moved silently, stepping up to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Second. They glared up at Eldest, a united front of quiet, angry solidarity.
That stubborn determination to carry the weight of the world alone crumbled instantly in the face of their unreserved concern.
Yes… they were a whole. They always had been.
[…I’m sorry.] Eldest’s mental voice softened, the aggressive bubbling of his magma slowing down.
[I was being too self-righteous.]
He raised his heavy head, his glowing gaze sweeping over his sworn siblings. All hesitation vanished from his posture.
[Then no more nonsense. We go together.]
Second didn’t miss a beat. Her sharp gaze immediately snapped toward the cowering vampire.
“Fourth! Recite exactly what plants are currently fully grown in the Nursery, and list the effect of every single one. Now!”
Fourth shrank his neck under her withering stare, not daring to delay for even a fraction of a second. He rattled off the list like a terrified student:
“Mandragora! Mandrake! Dragon Fruit Tree! Cactus! Caterpillar Fungus! Magic Flower! Golden Mushroom! And one more… the Devil’s Snare!”
After finishing his breathless report, he looked at Second cautiously.
She committed the information to memory in an instant, then whipped her head toward the Druid, firing off instructions at breakneck speed.
“Third, go to the Nursery immediately. Harvest and absorb every single talent effect available!”
“Me?” Third blinked, stunned. He subconsciously looked toward the towering Paladin. “Eldest is the strongest. Those buff effects should be given to him to maximize our combat efficiency…”
“No!” Second cut him off ruthlessly.
“Precisely because he is the strongest, the marginal utility of those buffs on him is the lowest!”
“And even if Eldest is our heavy hitter, we cannot place the entire pressure of this rescue on him alone!”
“Since our transmigration, our talents cannot be shared among the party. They have to be concentrated on one person to create a breakthrough!”
She stepped closer, pointing a finger at his chest. “As a Druid, your core combat power lies entirely in your summons, and your passive talents directly apply to them. As long as you are still standing, your summoning army is endless!”
“Your survival and your status are directly tied to our entire team’s sustained firepower! You must focus on your own safety!”
Third gritted his teeth, wanting to argue. “But what about you? You’re also—”
“I am too weak! Do you really have to force me to say it out loud!?” Second roared, her voice cracking with an irrepressible, frantic urgency.
“I’m not of much use right now! Even basic self-preservation is going to be a struggle for me in there!”
“So take these resources that can instantly spike our combat power and give them to the person who can exploit them the most! What is so hard to understand about that!?”
She screamed the final sentence, her eyes blazing:
“Stop wasting time! Those talent plants are renewable resources! Go absorb them all right now! This is an absolute order!”
Third was completely stunned by her harsh, brutally honest tactical analysis. Every word of dissuasion he had prepared died in his throat.
“…Understood.” He nodded heavily, spun on his heel, and sprinted down the corridor toward the Nursery.
Within the humid confines of the Nursery garden, Third rapidly made contact with the glowing flora. As he touched each mature plant, surges of pure energy rushed up his arms, condensing into new, permanent talents within his soul.
[Immune to frozen status, extends frozen duration on enemies. Personal Talent: Enhances pets and followers. Pet: Mandragora]
Back in the Vitality Hall, the remaining three waited in agonizing silence, their eyes locked onto the slowly rotating, ominous vortex of the Dungeon portal.
Every passing second was pure torture. Terrifying, bloody images of Ifrit wandering into a room full of hostile monsters flashed uncontrollably through their minds.
Finally, the steady, heavy sound of footsteps echoed from the Nursery passage.
They all turned at once.
Third stepped out of the shadows. His tall figure had undergone a subtle, deep transformation. Faint streams of multi-colored elemental energy flowed visibly around his skin. His previously hunched, hesitant posture was completely gone, replaced by a straight, imposing stance. Every step he took struck the stone with heavy, grounded power.
Second swallowed the suffocating anxiety in her throat and asked as calmly as she could manage, “Status?”
Third didn’t answer immediately. He looked down at his hands, slowly clenching his fingers into tight fists.
His knuckles popped with a crisp, sharp sound. An overwhelming sense of absolute power surged through his veins. He could clearly feel the latent elemental forces lurking just beneath his skin, the surging vitality intoxicating his senses.
There was no need for grand speeches. There was no more time to hesitate.
Eldest stepped forward. The others fell in line flawlessly, marching together until they stood at the very edge of the swirling portal.
[Are you afraid?] Eldest asked quietly.
“…Don’t talk nonsense,” Second muttered, adjusting her grip on her staff.
“I don’t lack a single thing right now!!!” Third declared, his eyes glowing with druidic energy.
“With all of us going together, who could possibly stop us!” Fourth grinned, flashing his fangs.
[Then let’s go… just like the old days!]
“To the Dungeon!”
They stepped into the vortex as one.
The scene shifted abruptly to the cold, unforgiving depths of the Dungeon.
Dim, sickly light flickered overhead, casting long, distorted shadows against the rough-hewn walls and the heavily frosted stone floor.
Ifrit clutched her lower abdomen, her face twisting in extreme discomfort. She scurried anxiously through the maze-like, claustrophobic passages, completely lost.
Just as panic began to set in, she spotted a figure standing perfectly still at the corner of the corridor ahead.
The person was clad in a thick, tan miner’s uniform. A heavy hard hat sat on their head, a mounted lamp casting a dull beam against the wall. In their hands, they held a… massive, heavy-duty industrial drill?
Ifrit didn’t care. She hurried over, waving her hand at the figure’s broad back.
“Excuse me, hey! Do you know where the bathroom is…”
The Miner remained perfectly still. Like a forgotten statue.
Ifrit frowned, assuming the heavy helmet was blocking their hearing. She stepped closer and raised her voice.
“Hey! Did you hear me? I’m in a really big hurry here!”
Still absolute silence.
Her patience snapping under the pressure of her bladder, Ifrit abandoned all manners and reached out, slapping her hand against the figure’s shoulder.
“Hey! Answer me!”
The very millisecond her palm made contact—
Click…
A sickening, metallic grinding sound echoed from deep inside the miner’s torso.
Ifrit’s hand froze in mid-air.
The miner’s stiff body began to pivot. It didn’t turn like a living creature; it ratcheted around with the teeth-grinding friction of rusted gears.
As the figure faced her, Ifrit realized with a jolt of horror that under the brim of the hard hat, where a human face should have been, there was only a bottomless, empty void of darkness.
Then, two piercing points of scarlet light ignited within that void, locking dead onto the petite Sarkaz girl.
Ifrit gasped.
The massive drill, easily half the size of her own body, let out a dangerous, high-pitched whine. The miner swung it in a brutal, sweeping arc, smashing it directly toward where Ifrit stood.
She threw herself backward in a blind panic. The drill slammed into the stone floor, shattering the frost-covered tiles instantly.
Jagged shards of rock exploded outward like buckshot. Several heavy fragments slammed hard into Ifrit’s back. She let out a sharp cry of pain, stumbling forward and nearly eating dirt.
“Hey! I was just asking for directions! Was that really necessary!?”
She shouted in a mix of shock and rising anger, scrambling backward step by step until her spine hit the freezing, solid wall of the corridor.
The Miner didn’t speak. It simply raised the drill and began marching toward her, its heavy boots thudding rhythmically against the broken floor.
“What is going on!? What kind of hellish place is this! Everything is just walls, and even the people are complete freaks!”
Vrrrrrrrr—!!!
The electric drill in the monster’s hands shrieked, the harsh buzzing vibrating right through Ifrit’s bones. She trembled, pressing herself flat against the stone.
Those glowing scarlet eyes remained locked onto her, but this time, the miner didn’t charge.
Instead, the tip of the high-speed rotating drill began to draw in the surrounding air. Unsettling, blood-red energy condensed rapidly at the focal point, the light growing blindingly bright.
In the blink of an eye, a volatile sphere of red energy the size of a human head formed and shot straight at her face.
Fortunately, the projectile wasn’t particularly fast. Ifrit dove hard to the right, scraping her knees against the frost.
The energy ball smashed heavily into the wall right where her head had been. It detonated instantly. A powerful, concussive shockwave violently expanded outward.
Ifrit felt an invisible, crushing force slam into her side. She was thrown through the air, crashing heavily onto the unforgiving floor.
Agony flared through her entire body. The bruises from the shrapnel burned like hot iron.
But far more terrifying than the physical pain was the icy, suffocating dread that suddenly flooded her chest.
He… he actually wants to kill me!
Why? I just asked for directions…
Am I going to die here? Die in this dark, inexplicable place?
No! I don’t want to!
Her violently agitated emotions acted like a lit match dropped directly into a powder keg. The restless, catastrophic power sealed deep within her infected body ignited.
Click… clack…
The miner advanced with mechanical, relentless steps. It aimed the smoking drill at her prone form, and the red light began to gather once more.
“Don’t… don’t come any closer!” Ifrit’s voice trembled violently. She tried to scramble backward, her boots slipping on the frost.
“I’m really strong! I swear I’ll kill you!”
The miner offered no response, only the rising, deadly hum of condensing energy.
“I SAID DON’T COME OVER—!!!”
Pushed to the absolute brink by extreme fear and a primal desire to survive, Ifrit let out a desperate, tearing scream.
BOOM—!
A pillar of scorching, apocalyptic fire erupted from her petite body. Wild, untamed tongues of flame lashed out, instantly melting the frost off the walls.
The Flame Demon Fragment had awakened once more.
A terrifying phantom composed entirely of pure, ancient fire materialized above her.
However, before this newly born entity could even stretch its fiery limbs or roar to announce its grand arrival, the miner’s fully charged energy ball fired at point-blank range.
Squelch—!
The projectile slammed directly into the Flame Demon’s chest, punching a massive, gaping hole straight through its ethereal torso.
Scattered embers blew backward, raining down like a blooming firework display.
“Roar…!?”
The Flame Demon phantom let out a baffled, utterly bewildered grunt. It looked down at its own chest. Upon realizing what had just happened, absolute fury took over. It violently manipulated the surrounding ambient heat, instantly sealing the hole with fresh, roaring fire.
It threw its head back, preparing to unleash an devastating roar to vent its humiliation—but suddenly paused.
The massive head of fire swiveled nervously, scanning the dark corridors. Only after thoroughly confirming that a certain terrifying Lava Troll was nowhere to be seen did it relax.
It immediately straightened its posture, turning the full, unadulterated weight of its ancient rage onto the mechanical miner.
“ROAR—!! (Humble ant!)”
It swung a massive arm forged of pure, concentrated plasma. A surging tsunami of fire rolled down the corridor, instantly swallowing the miner whole.
The monster tried to continue its mechanical charge, but beneath the continuous, flesh-melting temperature of the Sarkaz flames, its armor warped and gave way. With a loud, metallic crunch, it collapsed into a pile of glowing, charred slag.
“ROAR! (Unbearable trash!)”
The Flame Demon phantom let out a triumphant, rumbling laugh. The flames around it rose higher, proudly declaring its absolute victory over the hallway.
However…
Click… clack…
Click… clack…
It didn’t notice when it started.
From the deep, oppressive darkness stretching out in every direction, a dense, overlapping cacophony of noise began to echo.
The screech of grinding metal. The heavy thud of mechanical footsteps. The high-pitched whine of charging energy weapons. The low, guttural roars of things that were decidedly not human.
In this pitch-black, lightless maze, the towering Flame Demon radiating intense heat and blinding light was incredibly dazzling.
And to the horde lurking in the shadows… incredibly tempting.