When Ivanov took the bottle of clear water, a look of pure joy immediately broke across his face. However, paired with his distorted, crystal-scarred features, the expression gave off an indescribably eerie feeling. Although he had never seen this substance before, based on the Doctor's words, he knew this had to be that newly acquired "medicine."
He gulped down the Holy Water instantly. To his amazement, the Originium that had been rapidly sprouting across his skin began to dissolve, slowly receding back beneath the surface of his body.
"What did he just drink? Has Ursus already invented this kind of technology?" Ch'en watched the transformation in Ivanov with shock. She never expected that his Oripathy would actually show signs of improvement the moment he consumed that drug!
This bizarre phenomenon was a first even for her. As someone well-versed in Oripathy suppressants, she had never heard of such a thing existing. Even the most advanced medical corporations currently only aimed to stop the disease from worsening further. A drug that could visibly reverse the degree of infection was something they thought only existed in fairy tales, yet here was such an unrealistic thing appearing right before their eyes!
Beside them, Jeanne's gaze toward the trio became even more dangerous. She had found the thief. The culprit had to be among these three. This Ursus man was too burly to seem like the type for stealthy theft, and it was unlikely Donald would do the dirty work himself. That left only the Liberi! That fellow looked "light" on his feet—clearly a professional in that line of work.
At that moment, feeling his strength return, Ivanov raised his fists and charged toward Ch'en and the others, actually intending to take on all four of them alone! His confidence stemmed from the medicine healing his infection and his strangely mutated Originium Arts; he planned to end the battle quickly before the effects of the drug wore off.
The three LGD officers reacted instantly. Hoshiguma swung her triangular shield, slamming it toward him with sharp corners intended to slice through. Simultaneously, Ch'en vanished in a blur, reappearing at his flank. Her longsword cleared its scabbard, unleashing a blast of sword ki and atmospheric pressure that surged forward like a gale.
As for Swire... she remained at a distance, swinging her meteor hammer. In her hands, the weapon could curve mid-air to strike him from multiple angles. However, compared to the overwhelming presence of the other two, Swire's aura was slightly weaker.
To their frustration, they found that even their full-strength attacks failed to incapacitate him. The damage dealt to his person was minimal; the vast majority of the strikes were repelled by a translucent protective barrier.
"Dammit, is your race Ursus or Petram? How does an Ursus have an Originium Art with such a hard shell!" Swire shouted from the back, visibly annoyed as her meteor hammer bounced off the shield like she was just giving him a light massage.
Usually, Originium Arts that created such incredibly sturdy shields were rare among the Ursus. They specialized in reinforcing their physical strength rather than defense. Such "disgustingly hard" shields were typical of the Petram race, who excelled in defensive capabilities.
Jeanne, however, was observing the Doctor behind the man. For some reason, she felt like the Doctor was cooking up something foul! It was then that Jeanne noticed the pattern on Ivanov's shield wasn't the usual polygonal shape; instead, it featured a texture resembling the scales of an Earth Dragon!
These scale-like patterns glowed brighter every time Ch'en and the others attacked, as if signaling a successful resistance. It seemed the reason Ivanov dared to challenge them lay within this mutated Originium Art. Was it because of his close contact with the Originium magma created by the dragon breath? A situation where the dragon's breath mixed with the Originium, resulting in something akin to "bathing in dragon's blood"?
If so, it was understandable. Bathing in dragon's blood would naturally strengthen a person, and being infected by the power of an Earth Dragon was likely a unique case on the entire Terra continent.
At this moment, Ivanov realized his Originium Arts had become significantly more powerful, causing his ego to inflate. He felt as if he were omnipotent. Originally, his Arts were quite mediocre; it had taken him months just to learn a basic shield, and its effectiveness had been underwhelming at best.
But now? His once-garbage shield could block the simultaneous attacks of three powerhouses! It seemed that destiny was on his side! Feeling the invincible defense of his Dragon Scale shield and seeing the "massage-like" attacks of the three women, Ivanov's arrogance peaked! He even entertained the thought of finishing off these three police officers.
The LGD trio was equally infuriated. The biggest problem facing them was finding a way to punch through this "turtle shell." While the man was a decent fighter, years of living in luxury meant his combat skills were only "so-so" in their eyes; he posed almost no real threat to them. The situation had become a stalemate where neither side could harm the other.
Ch'en, refusing to believe in the shield's invincibility, hacked at it several more times. Each collision rang out with the sound of clashing metal, leaving her arms numb from the vibration.
"Officer Ch'en, how about this: everyone in this company is at your disposal, provided you let the three of us go. What do you think? This won't interfere with your merit or promotion at all!" Seeing the stalemate, Ivanov now had the confidence to haggle. His most important mission was simply to ensure the Doctor's escape.
He had originally wanted to eliminate the witnesses and then leave with Donald. That way, his secondary mission would be complete, and his standing in his "Master's" eyes would be even higher! By then, even being an Infected wouldn't matter! As long as he had value, that Great Person would not discard him so easily!
But as things stood, he couldn't actually overcome the three officers. In that case, he would settle for a partial success: bringing Donald back to Ursus!
"Shut up. You've committed so many unforgivable atrocities—do you really think we'd let you leave so easily?" Ch'en was fuming. If she weren't worried that Chi Xiao's power would destroy the underground structure, she would have cleaved him in two long ago. She realized she still needed to work harder; she had held Chi Xiao for a while now, but her control was still too unrefined. She vowed to increase her training to master the weapon properly.
"They're just Infected. Many of them were shipped here from Ursus anyway! What's the problem with using Infected for these things? They don't have things like human rights—UGH!"
Before he could finish his sentence, the moment Ch'en and Hoshiguma backed off, Jeanne pounced like a leopard. Before Ivanov could react, a massive force slammed into his stomach.
His "invincible" shield shattered instantly under that single punch. He vaguely heard the sound of the barrier breaking—a sound like glass being smashed to bits. But he couldn't spare a thought for that; the excruciating pain left him unable to breathe. Like a dehydrated fish, he opened his mouth wide but couldn't suck in a single breath of air.
With a loud thud, he was slammed violently against the wall. If he hadn't desperately used his Originium Arts again at the last second, he wasn't sure he'd still be alive.
"While I am annoyed by your brainless words, we still have one unresolved issue between us," Jeanne said, her face expressionless. Her dark gold eyes actually began to glow in the dim room, making her look like a Great Demon King from some ancient era. "That bottle of medicine."