Ark Simulator, Wasn't I Supposed to Have No Physical Form? Chapter 251
"What... what kind of monster is this?" Nian's voice trembled slightly.
Xi pulled out a Azure Jade Wine Cup from her sleeve; the runes on it were gleaming with an eerie blue light. "It's your elder sister's wine cup... She turned everyone in the city into Artifact Wraith!"
More Artifact Wraith in from all directions, trampling over the burning remains of their comrades, oblivious to the flames licking at their bodies. She continuously unleashed fireballs, but the sheer number was overwhelming; soon, cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and her breathing became rapid.
"Xi, we have to get out of here!" Nian grabbed his sister's wrist and retreated in the only direction without Artifact Wraith.
However, that path was soon blocked as well. A circle of dozens of Artifact Wraith trapped the two sisters in the center, mechanically repeating the word "transformation," their voices overlapping to form a chilling buzz.
The flames of the year grew weaker and weaker, and she felt the innate power within her body was drying up. Xi gripped the wine cup tightly, chanting the incantation to dispel the curse, but the wine cup remained unresponsive.
"It's no use... This is your elder sister's magic weapon, only she can..." Xi's voice was drowned out by the approaching footsteps of the Artifact Wraith.
Just as the first Artifact Wraith's metal claw was about to touch Nian's shoulder, an unprecedented heat wave erupted from her body.
Nian's pupils contracted into two thin lines, and crimson lines spread from her neck to her cheeks. She tilted her head back and let out a shrill scream that was not human. The flames that erupted around her were no longer orange-red, but almost white and scorching. The flames formed a ring of fire that spread outward from her center, and wherever they passed, Artifact Wraith instantly turned to Ash.
"Nian! Stop!" Xi's voice seemed to come from a very far place.
Nian felt as if she were falling into a sea of fire, something within her awakening, greedily devouring her reason. The flames were no longer under her control, and began to indiscriminately burn everything around her. The teahouse signboard crashed down, and the bluestone pavement cracked and melted.
A pair of icy hands suddenly patted her face. Xi's forehead pressed against hers, her silver hair flying wildly in the heat.
"Come back, Nian... come back..." Xi's voice trembled but was firm, "Look at me, don't let that thing control you."
As Nian's vision gradually cleared, she saw that Xi's face was flushed red from the heat, her eyelashes curled, yet she still wouldn't let go. The white flames slowly faded, returning to a gentle orange-red.
As the last wisp of uncontrolled flame was drawn back into his body, Nian's legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees. The area within a hundred meters was scorched earth, all his Artifact Wraith reduced to Ash. But further away, new shadowy figures were gathering.
"I... I can't control it..." Nian gasped for breath, looking at her hands in horror.
Xi helped her up. "We need to find a place to hide until dawn. Artifact Wraith will move slowly in the sunlight."
Nian nodded and struggled to her feet. Just then, she noticed that the wine cup in Xi's hand was emitting a rhythmic, pulsating blue light, like some kind of signal.
"It's pointing the way..." Xi frowned, "Pointing to the mountains outside the city."
Nian recalled the meaningful smile on Ling's face when he threw them down, and suddenly understood. "That drunkard sister... she did it on purpose. She wanted us to discover something."
A series of metallic scraping sounds came from afar, indicating that a new batch of Artifact Wraith was gathering. The two sisters exchanged a glance and tacitly ran towards the direction indicated by the wine cup.
As Nian walked through the burning streets, a terrifying thought echoed in his mind—if everyone in the city had become Artifact Wraith, what role did Ling play in it? And what did Su Rui, the little girl who always quietly followed Ling, know?
Behind him, hundreds of his Artifact Wraith surged forward like a tide, mechanically repeating the same word, their voices coalescing into a chilling wave:
"Transform... transform... transform..."
Volume 9, Chapter 557: Du Yaoye
Sister Xi--! Sister Nian--!"
Su Rui stood on the edge of the cliff, shouting at the top of her lungs, while the dark dragon tail behind her pounded the rocks restlessly.
His short, silvery-white hair was tousled by the mountain wind, and the two small dragon horns on his head gleamed like pearls in the moonlight. The city below, which should have been brightly lit, was now shrouded in an eerie blue mist, with the occasional ear-piercing sound of metal clashing echoing through the air.
"It's all over, it's all over..." Su Rui grabbed his dragon horns and spun around in place, his tail accidentally snapping a small tree. "Someone must have tampered with your sister's wine cup!"
He recalled his sister's unusually serious expression earlier—this always-drunk older sister had gripped his wrist tightly, "Su Rui, don't run around, even I can't undo the spell in the wine cup..."
But how could Su Rui sit still? Sister Xi is his wife! Although she hasn't said it outright yet, and although she usually has a fierce look that says "If you cause any more trouble, I'll nail you into the painting," Sister Xi always comes to the rescue with a painting every time he gets into trouble.
"Agh! Whatever!" Su Rui stomped his foot, cracking several lines in the rock. He darted to the edge of the cliff, took a deep breath, and prepared to jump.
Wow! Is this adorable little dragon going to jump off a cliff and commit suicide?
A figure suddenly leaped out of the bushes, nearly knocking Su Rui off the cliff. It was a Feline girl wearing sunglasses, her eyes shining as she stared at his dragon horns.
"Hello, I'm Miss Du from the Du Family, quite famous around here~" She reached out to touch Su Rui's horn, "Such beautiful dark dragon scales, it's such a pity they've Artifact Wraith!"
Su Rui slapped her paw away, her dark tail standing erect warily. "Don't touch me! Sister Xi said only she can touch me!" Realizing she'd let something slip, her fair cheeks flushed red. "I... I meant I'm looking for my wife!"
Suddenly, a series of metallic buzzing sounds came from the foot of the mountain.
Su Rui peeked out and was so frightened that his dragon scales exploded – all the residents of the street had turned into Artifact Wraith, their bodies made of pots, pans, and bowls reflecting a cold light. One teapot Artifact Wraith was spraying boiling tea from its spout, corroding holes in the stone lions by the roadside.
"Wow!" Miss Du pulled out an oil-paper umbrella out of nowhere. "Handsome young man, would you like me to protect you as you descend the mountain? I know a secret passage to avoid the Artifact Wraith!"
"Who needs your protection! I'm a dragon!" Su Rui flicked her tail, then suddenly narrowed her amber eyes. "Wait... how do you know the area down the mountain is full of Artifact Wraith? Shouldn't normal people have all turned into Artifact Wraith by now?"
Miss Du's cat ears twitched subtly, and the Bell on her bow jingled softly.
Just then, a deafening explosion came from the east of the city. Su Rui looked in the direction of the sound and saw a dark pillar of light shooting into the sky—it was the light from when Sister Xi unfolded her scroll! Within the pillar of light, countless ink-painted birds could be vaguely seen fighting against the Artifact Wraith.
"Sister Xi!" Without saying a word, Su Rui was about to jump down the mountain.
"Wait!" Miss Du suddenly grabbed his tail. "If you keep rushing like that, you'll be Artifact Wraith pieces! I know where your wife is—"
Before she could finish speaking, Su Rui suddenly felt a sharp pain in her tail. She saw that Miss Du had somehow produced a piece of dark dragon scale in her hand, with a trace of blood on the edge. The spot on her tail where the scale was missing was burning with pain.
"You stole my scales!" Su Rui bared his teeth, revealing sharp canines, and lightning began to gather on the dragon horns on his head.
"Don't be angry~" Miss Du pressed the scales onto the tip of the umbrella, and the oil-paper umbrella immediately shimmered with a bluish light. "This is your 'ticket' to go see your wife~ Look--"
As the umbrella spun, an image appeared of Xi being besieged by the Qimen Artifact Wraith. She stood on the ruined city wall, holding a paintbrush, surrounded by soldiers and generals painted in ink wash. However, there were simply too many Artifact Wraith. Several of Artifact Wraith had already broken through the defenses, and Xi had a bleeding wound on her arm.
"Sister Xi is injured!" Su Rui's dragon eyes suddenly contracted, and all the scales on his tail stood up. He could no longer afford to get entangled with this suspicious cat-eared girl and turned to rush down the mountain.
Suddenly, Xi's voice pierced through the mist. "Su Rui! If you dare follow me, I'll draw you as a turtle!"
--This familiar threat actually made Su Rui's eyes light up.
He grinned at Miss Du, revealing two sharp canine teeth. "Sorry, my wife is calling me!"
After saying that, he leaped into the air and appeared in mid-air—a three-meter-long black dragon, its scales shimmering like ink under the moonlight.
The little dragon circled around Su Rui, who swooped down like an arrow towards the dark pillar of light.
"Idiot! That's the lair of the Artifact Wraith!" Miss Du stomped her feet in exasperation, her cat ears sticking to her head in anger. After a moment's hesitation, she opened her oil-paper umbrella, which gleamed with a bluish light, and chased after them.
As Su Rui swooped down to a low altitude, he finally saw the devastation of the city. The streets were filled with wandering Artifact Wraith —teapot Artifact Wraith spewing boiling water, bronze mirror Artifact Wraith reflecting a bewitching light, and even children's rattles had become spiked murder weapons. Most terrifying of all was the giant Artifact Wraith in the central square, composed of hundreds of wine jars, constantly spewing out bluish mist.
"No wonder your sister was in such a hurry..." Su Rui swerved to avoid the flying Artifact Wraith, "Her wine cup could actually trigger such a large-scale anomaly..."
The city gate was already in sight. Su Rui saw that Xi was being besieged by Artifact Wraith. Her ink-painting soldiers were almost all gone, and even the paintbrush in her hand was cracked.
Worse still, the giant wine Artifact Wraith was moving towards the city gate, crushing buildings along its path into dust.
"Sister Xi! I'm here to help you!" Su Rui accelerated her dive, and the lightning gathered on her dragon horns struck the wine Artifact Wraith in front of her.
Xi looked up and saw him, a rare look of panic crossing her usually aloof face. "Idiot! Who sent you?!" She swung her paintbrush, barely managing to deflect the incoming Artifact Wraith. "These paintings won't last long, you'd better leave!"
"Why should I leave!" Su Rui landed beside her, transforming back into human form, her dark tail wrapping around Xi's waist. "I'm your husband!"
"Not yet... I haven't admitted it."
Xi's ears turned slightly red, but the situation was critical, and she couldn't afford to scold Su Rui.
The surrounding Artifact Wraith swarmed in greater numbers, and the ink-painted soldiers were shattered one by one. To make matters worse, the giant wine jar Artifact Wraith had reached the foot of the city wall, its top cracked open with a dark, gaping hole, emitting a terrifying suction force towards them.
"Hold on tight!" Su Rui suddenly picked Xi up by the waist and spread his dragon wings to take off. But the suction of the wine Artifact Wraith was too strong, and he was pulled back as soon as he left the ground.
At the critical moment, an oil-paper umbrella gleaming with a bluish light suddenly blocked their path. Miss Du appeared on the city wall at some unknown time, her cat ears pressed back with effort, her hands gripping the umbrella tightly.
"Run! I can only hold on for ten seconds!" she shouted back to Su Rui. "Remember you owe me a favor!"
Without a second thought, Su Rui grabbed Xi and rushed into the sky. Behind her came Miss Du's shout, "Go to the south of the city and find Nian! She knows how to break this spell!"
When they reached a safe altitude, Su Rui looked back and saw that Miss Du's figure had already been swallowed by the wine Artifact Wraith. Strangely, he wasn't particularly sad—the cat-eared girl had given him such a strange feeling, like...
"Just like the Artifact Wraith itself." Xi suddenly spoke, as if she understood Su Rui's thoughts. She leaned weakly against him, the wound on her arm still bleeding, "That Miss Du has an aura that originates from the same Artifact Wraith..."
Su Rui suddenly remembered the dragon scale that Miss Du had stolen, and her heart tightened. "What does she want with my scale?"
Xi shook her head, her face growing paler. "Let's go to the south of the city to find Nian... She should have already found your sister's wine cup..."
Su Rui hugged his wife tightly, the dark dragon wings drawing graceful arcs in the moonlight.
He had a vague feeling that a deeper conspiracy lay hidden behind this crisis Artifact Wraith. And the stolen dragon scale might be the key...
Volume 9, Chapter 558: Is Xi shy?
Xi's wound stopped bleeding quickly thanks to Su Rui's treatment.
The handsome young man carefully licked the wounds on his wife's arm; the healing power contained in the ambergris caused the wounds to heal at a visible speed.
"Okay, stop licking, it tickles." Xi gently pushed Su Rui's head away, a blush appearing on her pale face. "Focus on flying, we'll be in the south of the city soon."
Su Rui chuckled, her dark dragon tail unconsciously wrapping around Xi's waist. "Is Sister Xi shy?"
"If you say another word, I'll throw you down." Xi glared at him, but hugged him even tighter.
Through the thick blue fog, the outline of the southern city gradually became clear. Su Rui suddenly stopped, using her sword as a staff to create a gust of wind—
"That's... Sister Nian?!"
On the street below, Nian was surrounded by hundreds of Artifact Wraith.
She held a broken bronze wine vessel in her hand, surrounded by blazing flames, but the flames were growing weaker and weaker due to the sheer number of the Artifact Wraith.
Most disturbingly, those Artifact Wraith seemed to be under some kind of command, attacking in shifts with measured advances and retreats, unlike the scattered, unruly soldiers encountered before.
"Something's not right..." Xi squinted, "When did the Artifact Wraith learn tactical teamwork?"
Su Rui's dragon ears suddenly perked up. "Sister Xi, look over there!"
From the shadows at the street corner, a familiar figure slowly emerged—it was Miss Du!
But her current state was extremely strange: her eyes were glowing with a bluish light, and the oil-paper umbrella in her hand, inlaid with Su Rui's dark dragon scale, was emitting an eerie glow. Every gesture she made precisely directed the actions of the Artifact Wraith army.
"She's being controlled..." Su Rui's tail thumped nervously in the air, "I knew her behavior was strange!"
Xi immediately unfurled the scroll. "We must save Nian first. You to the left, I to the right, the old tactic."
Su Rui nodded and was about to swoop down when Xi suddenly grabbed her.
"Wait," Xi's expression was unusually serious, "Your dragon scale... if it falls into the Artifact Wraith, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Su Rui touched the spot on her tail where the scales were missing; it still throbbed faintly. "But Miss Du seems completely unaware of what she's doing..."
"There's no time to hesitate." Xi shook the scroll, and several ink-wash tigers roared out. "I'll lure away the Artifact Wraith, you go and retrieve the dragon scales. If necessary..." She paused, "You can knock out that cat-eared girl."
Su Rui bit her lip, and lightning began to gather on the dragon horns. "I'll try not to hurt her..."
Just as the two were about to act, the battle below suddenly changed. Nian seemed to have discovered something, and suddenly smashed the Broken Wine Vessel in her hand to the ground. The splashed wine hit the flames around her, causing a violent explosion.
The encirclement was breached, and Nian seized the opportunity to rush out, heading straight for Miss Du's location.
"Sister Nian has discovered the key!" Su Rui exclaimed excitedly.
Xi's expression changed drastically. "Oh no! That year was a trap!"
Sure enough, just as the year was about to reach Miss Du, the ground suddenly cracked open, and dozens of bronze Artifact Wraith hidden underneath vibrated simultaneously, emitting deafening sound waves.
Nian clutched his ears in agony and collapsed to his knees, the flames instantly extinguished. Miss Du mechanically raised her hand, and all the Artifact Wraith simultaneously turned towards Nian, poised to deliver a fatal blow—
"Sister Nian!" Su Rui could no longer hold back. She transformed into a dragon and swooped down, spitting out a bolt of lightning that shattered the foremost few of the Artifact Wraith into pieces.
Xi followed closely behind, and countless ink chains flew out from the scroll, temporarily binding Miss Du's movements. Taking advantage of the moment, she rushed to Nian's side and pulled her up. "Are you still alive?"
Nian coughed and exhaled a puff of black smoke. "I won't die, I'm tough... This piece of wine vessel is the key part of your sister's wine cup, it must be reassembled with the base to stop the spell..."
"Where's the base?" Su Rui asked anxiously as she used her tail to swat away the attacking Artifact Wraith.
"Right beneath our feet!" Nian pointed to the ground, "Below this is the Du Family's ancient wine cellar, the base is right here—"
Her words were interrupted by a piercing metallic scraping sound. Miss Du broke free of the ink-wash chains, and the dragon scales on the oil-paper umbrella shone brightly.
Unconsciously, she controlled the army of Artifact Wraith to surge forward like a tide. Most terrifyingly, the giant wine jar Artifact Wraith was also moving in this direction, destroying houses wherever it passed.
"There's no time!" Xi made a decisive decision. "Su Rui, can you control that cat-eared girl for now? Don't hurt her, just make her stop controlling the Artifact Wraith!"
Looking at Miss Du's empty eyes, Su Rui gritted her teeth and said, "I'll try..."
He suddenly lunged at Miss Du, tackling her to the ground before the Artifact Wraith could react. Miss Du struggled, her strength astonishing, forcing Su Rui to use his dragon tail to wrap around her limbs.
"Miss Du! Wake up!" Su Rui shouted close to her ear, "You're being controlled by Artifact Wraith!"
Miss Du's cat ears twitched, and the blue light in her eyes dimmed slightly, but the glow of the dragon scales immediately plunged her into an even deeper state of control. She suddenly opened her mouth and bit Su Rui's shoulder hard.
"Ouch!" Su Rui cried out in pain, but still dared not struggle too much, afraid of hurting her. "Sister Xi! What should we do?"
Xi and Nian stood back to back, fending off the ever-increasing number of Artifact Wraith; the situation was critical. Just then, Nian suddenly noticed the liquid seeping from a crack in the ground—
"It's wine! The ancient wine cellar has been cracked!" A glint flashed in Nian's eyes. "Xi! Use your painting to lure the wine up! Su Rui! Take that girl and fly higher!"