Arknights: Soul Knights of Terra — Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Let’s Go Watch the Meteor Shower Together

As Vera and her companion ventured deeper into the jagged stone forest, the air grew increasingly viscous, heavy with an unnatural metallic tang.

Ines, leading the way with light, measured steps, suddenly broke the silence. Her voice was perfectly calm. “Employer. Have you eaten recently?”

Vera blinked, her boots crunching against the gravel. “I have. Is there a problem?”

Ines did not turn around. Her gaze remained fixed on the winding path ahead. “I hope you didn’t eat much.”

Before Vera could ask for clarification, Ines stopped at the edge of a massive, jutting boulder. She didn’t say a word; she simply stepped aside, allowing Vera a clear view of what lay around the corner.

Hanging from a sharp protrusion of rock was a headless corpse. Its arms had been violently dislocated and twisted backward, bound with its own torn sinew to point deeper into the stone forest. It was a malicious, mocking signpost.

Vera’s breath hitched. Her fingers instinctively clamped down on the hilt of her sword.

Without a word, Ines resumed walking.

That first corpse was only the beginning. As they pushed further into the labyrinth of rock, more “signposts” appeared, each arranged in unimaginably grotesque poses. The methods of execution varied wildly—some flayed, others crushed or impaled—but the singular constant was the expression of absolute, agonizing despair frozen into their remaining features.

These horrific markers, carved from human lives, formed a welcoming avenue that led straight into the depths of hell.

The veins on Vera’s forehead throbbed. Her breathing grew ragged, the heavy air scraping against her lungs. She leaned a hand against the cold stone wall, squeezing her eyes shut for a fleeting second to steady her churning stomach.

Ines glanced back, her tone softening just a fraction. “Do you need a rest? Or… shall we change direction?”

Vera snapped her eyes open. Cold fury burned in her pupils. “Right now… I can’t wait to meet that bastard.”

They quickened their pace. Vera forced her gaze forward, refusing to look at the twisted bodies, but the corpses were deliberately positioned at every turn, impossible to ignore.

Gradually, the dense clusters of stone began to thin out, opening into a wide, barren clearing. But the open space offered no relief. The air here was choked with a thick, crimson fog that looked almost solid, rolling over the ground like a sea of blood.

They stopped at the edge of the unnatural mist. The disgust on Vera’s face melted away, replaced by a strange, chilling calm.

“Go back.”

Ines paused, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Vera didn’t look at her, keeping her gaze locked on the churning red wall. “And tell Hoederer and the others to stay far away from this stone forest from now on.”

With those words, she stepped forward. Her slender figure was instantly swallowed by the crimson haze, but her voice drifted back, crisp and steady.

“From here on out… things might get a bit loud.”

Ines stood in silence for a few seconds, watching the fog swallow the last traces of her employer. Then, without hesitation, she turned on her heel to relay the orders.

“I wish you good fortune in battle.”

Inside the fog, the light was dim and sickly. The stench of raw blood was suffocating, and the ground beneath Vera’s boots felt soft and sticky, like walking across exposed flesh.

Vera stopped. She let her hands fall to her sides and spoke into the gloom. “You like the dark and damp so much… are you a Blood Demon, or just a rat that can’t bear the light?”

No voice answered her. The shifting shadows closing in from all sides were answer enough.

The world in her eyes suddenly slowed to a crawl. Vera clearly tracked the sharp, crystalline cluster shooting toward her back. Without even turning her head, she drew her Void Sword. The dark blade slashed through the heavy air, precisely shattering the projectile into harmless dust.

The very instant the crystal shattered, a dozen shadows lunged from the mist, their weapons stabbing toward her from every conceivable blind spot.

Vera didn’t bother dodging. She slammed the base of her Staff of Sorcery directly into the bloody earth.

A pulse of energy erupted from the point of impact. A time-stop field expanded outward, washing over the clearing. The incoming blades and the lunging assassins froze mid-air, trapped like insects encased in amber.

Vera raised her eyes. A ghostly, ethereal light swirled along the edge of the Void Sword. Black gravitational waves began to contract around the blade, generating a massive pulling force that dragged the frozen figures and the surrounding red fog toward her.

She gripped the Staff of Sorcery with both hands, raised it high, and swung it like a heavy warhammer.

The bodies of the assassins twisted violently as they were struck, forming a chaotic, frozen tableau of broken limbs suspended in the air.

`[Time begins to flow]`

The suppressed kinetic energy detonated all at once. The deafening crack of shattering bones, the dull thud of bodies caving in, and the sharp whistle of displaced air echoed through the clearing.

The figures were launched backward at speeds far exceeding their initial charge. The sheer violence of the impact blew a massive hole in the red fog, leaving a patch of clear air before the crimson mist rapidly rushed back in to seal the gap.

Behind the closing veil, no new shadows stepped forward.

After a brief, heavy silence, a voice drifted through the mist.

“It seems my guest does not appreciate the welcome ceremony I carefully prepared…” The voice was unexpectedly clear, carrying a pleasant, magnetic resonance. “And yet, I put so much effort into it.”

Vera’s response was immediate and sharp. “I only see a twisted, tasteless pervert polluting my eyes with disgusting trash.”

“Trash, you say… well, you aren’t entirely wrong.”

The red fog rolled back, parting like the velvet curtains of a grand theater, revealing a straight, open path.

At the end of the bloody corridor stood a figure. He had hair as white as frost and eyes the color of fresh arterial blood. He was undeniably handsome, wearing a warm, elegant smile and a relaxed posture. If one ignored the hellish landscape of butchered corpses around him, he looked exactly like a noble poet preparing to recite a verse.

“They were all useless weaklings who didn’t even qualify to be my companions,” he said smoothly. “Calling them trash is quite appropriate.”

Vera didn’t waste breath arguing. She simply walked down the path toward him.

Blood Slaughter blinked, his smile deepening into something predatory. “What a passionate young lady. Already so impatient to—”

`[Time-stop activated]`

“What’s so funny…”

Vera didn’t draw the Void Sword. She gripped her Staff of Sorcery with both hands, pouring every ounce of her physical strength and the boiling rage in her chest into her arms.

“You bastard…”

The staff, carrying terrifying, unmitigated kinetic energy, swung like a baseball bat directly toward that hypocritical, smiling face.

“What do you take life for?!”

`[Time resumes flowing]`

Squish—!

The handsome features caved inward with a sickening crunch. Warm blood sprayed outward in a violent radial burst. Blood Slaughter’s neck snapped with a crisp, echoing crack, bending backward at a grotesque ninety-degree angle. His feet left the ground entirely as the sheer force of the blow launched him backward down the corridor.

Boom—!!!

Blood Slaughter slammed into the solid stone wall at the far edge of the clearing. A massive crater webbed across the rock, and a halo of fresh blood bloomed around him like a gruesome flower. His ruined body slid down the rough stone face, painting a long, wet streak across the rock before collapsing into a motionless heap on the ground.

Vera stood perfectly still, slowly lowering her staff. Blood dripped steadily from the crystal tip.

“That hurt…”

The abrupt, casual voice came from the broken heap of limbs.

The blood splattered across the wall began to flow backward, defying gravity as if it possessed a life of its own, seeping back into the twisted body. Accompanied by a chorus of teeth-grinding crunches, the shattered flesh and pulverized bones rapidly knitted themselves back together, like a gruesome video playing in reverse.

Blood Slaughter grabbed his own crooked head and gave it a sharp, forceful twist.

Crack!

After a scalp-tingling pop of his cervical vertebrae, he rolled his shoulders and faced Vera once again.

“Truly astonishing speed…” Blood Slaughter rolled his neck, testing the freshly healed joints. “An ordinary opponent would have taken their final bow after a strike like that.”

As he spoke, the broken shadows that Vera had smashed into the dirt earlier began to twitch. One by one, they dragged themselves up from the ground.

“I admire you. Come, become my companion, just like them…” Blood Slaughter smiled warmly, spreading his arms wide.

The shadows finally stepped out of the obscuring fog, allowing Vera to see them clearly. They were of various builds—tall, short, stout, thin—but without exception, they all bore the unmistakable traits of elite warriors. Bulging muscles, calloused hands, and bodies mapped with countless old scars. Judging by their physiques alone, they were veteran mercenaries of outstanding strength.

“Interested in them? They are all, without exception, mercenaries who were once famous across the lands…” Blood Slaughter gestured proudly to the silent, closing figures. “Rockbreaker: a man who could tear through heavy armor with his bare hands. Ghostshadow: unmatched at making targets die silently in their sleep. Ironwall: his shield once withstood half an hour of sustained magical bombardment…”

“Each of them was once a legend. But now, they have all become my companions.”

Vera didn’t look at him. Her gaze swept over the silent mercenaries.

Twisted, writhing blood tentacles spilled from their open wounds. Jagged white bones pierced through their skin, protruding outward to form deformed, organic weapons. Combined with the fact that they had just recovered from having their bodies pulverized by her staff…

Vera’s expression grew colder than ice. Her breathing trembled slightly, heavy with a suffocating rage.

Oblivious to her rising fury, Blood Slaughter continued his pleasant invitation. “Someone as powerful and special as you… is fully qualified to join us. You can become one of my eternal companions.”

“You call these…” Vera’s voice was a low, venomous hiss. “…companions?!”

Seeing the raw, undisguised hatred in her eyes, Blood Slaughter paused. Then, a look of sudden realization dawned on his face.

“Ah. Are you worried about their appearance? Do you feel it’s not decent enough for a lady?”

He waved a hand dismissively. Instantly, the jagged bone spurs and writhing blood tentacles retracted, sinking back beneath their skin. In the blink of an eye, the grotesque monsters looked exactly like normal, living people again.

“Don’t misunderstand, little lady. They aren’t corpses.” Blood Slaughter’s tone was gentle, like a teacher explaining a simple concept to a child. “They are all very much alive. Breathing, heartbeat, thoughts… everything is still there. They even retain their complete consciousness, their memories, and their emotions.”

He paused, his smile stretching wider. “This is the most perfect state of existence, isn’t it?”

Vera stared fixedly at the mercenary closest to her.

The man’s right eye twitched slightly. He wasn’t looking at Blood Slaughter. He was looking directly at her. It was just a fleeting glance, so brief it could have been a trick of the light. But beneath the bottomless, agonizing numbness in his gaze, a single emotion bled through.

It was pleading.

“Grr…”

Vera ground her teeth together. She raised her Staff of Sorcery high into the air. A dazzling, blinding purple light began to flicker and pulse violently within its crystal core.

`[Time-stop sound effect] x3`

Sensing the massive spike in hostile energy, Blood Slaughter sighed in disappointment. “Why bother? Your attacks are just futile efforts.”

The red fog around them began to churn violently. Dozens more figures stepped out from the crimson mist, their numbers far exceeding the initial ambush, completely sealing off every possible avenue of retreat.

“This blood fog is an extension of my Originium Arts. Here, within this domain, I will never die.”

`[Time-stop sound effect] x6`

“They are all my proudest works. While being enhanced by my blood, each of them has retained their original Originium Arts.”

`[Time-stop sound effect] x10`

“I have given them new life! They no longer have to suffer the pain of mortality. Join us, and you shall share in this eternal glory!”

`[Time-stop sound effect] x14`

Vera remained absolutely silent. She just stood there, her eyes burning with a cold, dead fury, watching him speak while the purple light in her staff grew blindingly bright.

Faced with her utter lack of reaction, Blood Slaughter’s elegant facade finally cracked.

“What is with that look in your eyes?!” he snarled. He reached out, grabbed the mercenary beside him, and violently tore open the man’s flesh with his bare hands. “Are you angry for them?! For a bunch of filthy mercenaries who have slaughtered countless innocents?!”

“Do you even know what they have done?! Do you know what kind of scum they used to be?!”

`[Time-stop sound effect] x19`

“I don’t care.”

Vera’s voice wasn’t loud, but it cut through the heavy air, instantly drowning out Blood Slaughter’s hysterical echoes.

“Whether they are saints or scum, it has nothing to do with me.” The purple light at the tip of her staff was now a miniature, terrifying sun. “What I see is just a pathetic pervert immersed in a twisted world of his own making.”

She lifted her chin, her tone dripping with absolute, freezing disdain. “Your works, just like you, are entirely worthless.”

“You [Sarkaz profanity]! You tasteless little—”

“And one more thing.” Vera cut him off before he could finish his tirade. “You said that in this blood fog, you will never die. Right?”

A strange, low rumbling sound began to vibrate through the ground.

Blood Slaughter immediately pushed his perception to the absolute limit, scanning the blood fog for threats, but he sensed nothing approaching. He sneered. “What? Thinking of begging for mercy now with cheap tricks?”

“Shut up.” Vera’s voice sounded strangely distant, almost drained. She looked at Blood Slaughter not as an enemy, but as a corpse. “Someone as filthy as you…”

“Should be burned away by the flames.”

Rumble…

The strange vibration rapidly escalated into a deafening roar. Blood Slaughter frantically scanned his surroundings. “What exactly did you do?!”

“What did I do…”

Vera finally lowered her staff. Her figure began to blur, dissolving into particles of light. She left him with one final, quiet question.

“Have you ever watched a meteor shower?”

Before Blood Slaughter could even process her sudden disappearance, the very air around him began to tremble violently. The roaring sound from above grew exponentially louder, a terrifying, apocalyptic screech that drowned out the beating of his own heart.

He suddenly realized the ambient light in the clearing had vanished.

Blood Slaughter’s crimson pupils contracted to pinpricks. He slowly looked up at the sky.

A Catastrophe—

Was descending right on top of him.