Arknights' Lock of Heaven

The captain used to scoff at this, and now mainstream opinion holds that the so-called snow demon is just a hallucination of a person about to freeze to death. But after that defeat and witnessing scenes that only exist in myths and legends... he is no longer sure.

The captain really wanted to call his brothers and run away together—it was so strange—but…

Behind them were the voices of their brothers, encouraging each other as they roasted venison, the aroma of which constantly stimulated their hungry stomachs.

Some people eat the meat before it's even fully cooked.

Some people, thinking of him as a captain, brought him a piece of fragrant roasted meat.

Looking at the roasted meat in front of him, and feeling his rumbling stomach, the captain remained silent for two seconds before wolfing down the whole piece of meat.

"Natural disasters are a general term for all kinds of disasters, such as storms, earthquakes, meteorites, cold waves, volcanoes... every natural disaster you can think of has ever occurred."

After finishing his meal, he seemed to have given up all hope and didn't care who they were anymore, blurting out all his answers.

"So, these disasters were so massive that civilizations needed to build mobile cities to escape them?" Holmes stroked his chin upon hearing this. "Hmm, just how massive would a disaster have to be forcing a civilization to go to such lengths?"

"Okay, I understand. Let's talk about something different then, like, which country do you belong to?"

“We are soldiers of the Ursus regular army,” the captain replied while eating, “belonging to the Eighth Army.”

"So what kind of enemy did you encounter?" he continued. "I just estimated that since you can build so-called mobile cities, your engineering capabilities must be quite strong, and your warships must be quite powerful as well, right?"

"What kind of enemy could have caused such a crushing defeat for you?"

“…God.” The captain paused for two seconds before answering.

"What?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's hair stood on end when she heard this. They were forced to flee into the Sea of ​​Imaginary Numbers by the alien god and then inexplicably drifted here.

“We’ve encountered a god,” the captain said somberly. The soldiers behind him, who had been listening intently to the questioning, fell silent upon hearing this.

In an instant, the once lively campsite was filled only with the crackling of the campfire.

"So, your fleet was defeated by the gods, right?" Holmes' question broke the sudden silence of the camp.

“Defeat? No, no, no, of course not,” the captain said, bowing his head. “They didn’t even pay attention to us; they were just fighting each other.”

"Our fleet simply stumbled into a battlefield that was not ours. They did not attack us directly. The fleet's defeat... was purely due to the aftershocks of the gods' battle."

Upon hearing this, Holmes and Fujimaru Ritsuka exchanged a glance.

This is bad. If what he said is true, an army with more than fifty warships capable of fighting on land can't even withstand the aftershocks of a battle between two gods... This god is no ordinary being.

"If they wanted to kill us, not so many of them would have escaped. A casually fired light arrow could pierce an entire warship; that's the pride of Ursus..."

"According to you, many of your soldiers survived?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was quite surprised.

“Of the 180,000 troops, at least 80% should survive,” the captain sighed. “Don’t underestimate us just because we’re only a few men; we were just separated from the main force during the blizzard and the panic.”

“180,000 men and over 50 warships,” Holmes said thoughtfully. “You couldn’t have sent so many people just for patrol, could you? You said you stumbled into a battlefield of gods, so what was your original purpose?”

"...The infected's base," the captain paused for two seconds, then, as if he had nothing to lose, laid everything out, "We're going to attack there."

"What is an infected person?" Fujimaru Ritsuka dropped the pretense immediately.

“The infected are people who have contracted Oripathy. They got infected through contact with Originium,” the captain paused for two seconds, “You know what Originium is, right?”

“This is it, right?” Mash said, pulling out a test tube from behind her back. Inside were some black crystals.

“Yes, this is Originium,” the captain breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been too much of a hassle to explain it starting from Originium.

He no longer wanted to know where these people came from.

"Is Oripathy that terrifying?" Mash asked curiously. "So you want to wipe them out?"

Upon hearing this, a soldier behind him stood up and shouted hoarsely, "Of course it's terrifying! The infected are all lowly people! They shouldn't be alive! They'll drag us all down with them!"

"Elton, shut up!" the captain yelled, turning around before turning back to say, "Sorry, his brother died at the hands of the infected guerrillas, and he's a bit emotional."

"Is Oripathy contagious?" Mash seemed to have sensed something and continued to ask.

"Of course they will! They're like walking human bombs, they'll..." The soldier was about to say something when the captain turned around and gave him a stern look, stopping him. "I said shut up!"

“Originium disease is not contagious if handled properly,” he continued, turning back to explain. “As long as you don’t do anything reckless like cutting your skin with the Originium crystals on his body, you’ll be fine.”

"Their harm mostly occurs in the final stages of their lives. After their hearts stop beating, the Originium that has eroded their bodies explodes, polluting the surrounding area. If there are any people around, they will also be infected."

"So that means they were just patients, right?" Mashu frowned and asked, "How did it escalate to the point where the army had to wipe them out?"

"A year ago, the radical group Integration Movement among the infected launched a riot and occupied Chernobog, an important industrial city in the Empire, and caused countless horrific tragedies. The entire country began to ostracize the infected."

The captain slowly said, "In the end, we exiled the infected people we captured into the snowfields to fend for themselves, but the guerrillas rescued them and continued to grow stronger, starting to attack the army. His brother died in the battle."

"After repeated attacks, we could no longer tolerate it, and then, instigated by a piece of news, the military launched this campaign."

"What news?" Fujimaru Ritsuka clearly sensed that the captain hadn't told the truth about the infected, or rather, hadn't told the whole truth, but none of that mattered now.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Holmes exchanged a glance, then glanced outside the camp before turning back to look at the captain in tacit agreement.

“A priceless treasure has appeared at the infected’s base,” the captain sighed. “It can even bring the dead back to life, and the important figure in the Empire, Duke Ural, is bedridden with a serious illness.”

"Therefore, in order to gain merit and recognition from above, this operation was approved without any problem."

"What treasure?" Holmes was very interested.

"The everlasting flower from Avalon in Victorian legend."

"What?!" Upon hearing this, all three of them were stunned.

Victoria? Avalon?

No, under the influence of those two moons, we all felt like we were in another world, and now these familiar terms have suddenly appeared before us...

"What's going on with Avalon?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked excitedly.

"Avalon..." The captain, puzzled by the sudden excitement, asked, "I don't know either. I heard it's a mysterious kingdom from Victorian legends. The Everlasting Flower was brought by a wizard, what was it called again?"

"Merlin?" Mash and Fujimaru Ritsuka said in unison.

“Yes! Merlin, that’s the name!” The captain glanced at them in surprise. “Looks like you’re not completely clueless after all.”

But the three ignored him and instead exchanged glances.

Merlin, Avalon... Is this really another world?

"Then do you know where we can find that wizard?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked impatiently.

“How would I know? If I knew this, I wouldn’t be lost here,” the captain shrugged. “I would have reported it directly to the Duke.”

"However, if you want to find a wizard, you'll probably have to go to the infected's base. That's where he appeared and bestowed the Everlasting Flower."

"Where is the infected's base?" Mash asked directly upon hearing this.

"Uh...we're lost..." the captain chuckled sheepishly. "I don't know where to look..."

Hearing this, the two sighed. But it didn't matter; at least they had a direction. As for where the infected's base was, well, they'd find out soon enough.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t know,” a deep voice came from outside the camp at that moment, “you’ll find out soon enough anyway.”

490 Goodness, they're all acquaintances!

"Your ridiculous slander is utterly disgusting to me."

Accompanied by the rustling of armor and the sound of well-trained footsteps, a group of heavily armored and fully armed people emerged from under the cedar trees, completely surrounding the makeshift camp.

"If it weren't for the time it would take to surround you, I would have come out and torn your mouth apart with your nonsense long ago."

Upon seeing this, the captain jumped up and gathered his soldiers together. "I don't think I said anything wrong. Didn't it all start with your attack on Chernobog?"

"What wrong did those innocent civilians do? You started the war!"

Hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka and the other two watched the standoff with great interest.

That's right, one-sided opinions are not enough; to clarify the situation, both sides need to argue!

"What's wrong with us infected?" the lead shield guard sneered. "Just because we're infected with Oripathy, does that mean we should become slaves and die from exhaustion in the mines?"

"Ursus's strength in recent years is inseparable from the countless bones of infected people found in the mines!"

Upon hearing this, the captain was speechless.

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded. Hmm, there was definitely something fishy going on.

"But your revenge is not directed at those who persecuted you, but at the innocent citizens of Chernobog!"

He began to fixate on this point, while secretly glancing at the three people standing to the side who seemed unconcerned.

Now that things have come to this, we have to take a gamble if we want to survive.

"The Chernobog incident was our Infected's revenge?" Upon hearing this, the leading shield guard sneered. "If it weren't for your nobles' instigation, sending someone like Talulah as an undercover agent to incite the Infected to riot and try to provoke a war with Yan Kingdom, would the Chernobog incident have even happened?"

"What evidence do you have to support your claims?" The captain was quite surprised to hear this.

"Evidence? Ha, how did your Third Army disappear? They were clearly hiding near Chernobog, yet they just watched us capture the city and remained inactive. In the end, when the situation got out of control, they tried to enter the city but were wiped out by the Scourge. Is this all fake?"

"What? Wasn't the Third Army supposed to be there for disaster relief?" the captain asked, bewildered.

"Hmph, it seems you don't know. Well, you're just a lowly captain, what could you possibly know?" The Shield Guard lost interest at this point and changed the subject, "Tell me, why did you run north?"

"What?" The captain asked, somewhat bewildered.

"I said, you defeated soldiers could have survived by simply running south back to the defensive line, or by heading west to Prostov. Why did you have to run north?"

"Is there some kind of conspiracy?"

"..." Upon hearing this, the dozen or so defeated soldiers looked at each other and then lowered their heads in silence.