Xyrin Empire-Chapter 713: Mission Accomplished

The Pilgrimage Road is Olympus’ widest avenue on its face, built from incredibly sturdy synthetic "rocks," wide enough to allow more than a dozen cars to drive abreast. This expansive road serpentines upward, following the mountain’s contour, passing by the twelve temples on the mountain—these are now the energy output and control points of the Sunburn Obelisk. Of course, they are currently occupied by monsters; some of these creatures were once warriors and servants of the temple, while many more are mythical beasts that once protected the tranquility of the temples.

Amidst the dazzling electric light, two Armored Scorpions plummet from tens of meters in the air, crushing the last two Obsidian Sphinxes before us, then our team continued to advance.

"These were the Arcane Stone Demons that stood as sculptures at the entrance of the temple. It seems that the energy leaking from the Sunburn Obelisk has reanimated these sturdy magic creations, which were subsequently corrupted by the aura of demons," Ares muttered as he passed the pile of obsidian fragments on the ground. The blood on his enormous sword was still producing an unnatural scalding steam, remnants from slaying the Minotaur—a super soldier even mightier than the mass-produced Armored Scorpions in close combat. He had already shredded at least a hundred monsters with the Door Board Sword in his grasp, yet he remained strikingly unfazed and unbreathed.

"The last temple is just ahead. Further up, the residual energy of the Sunburn Obelisk still sustains the operation of Zeus Temple, with Ghost Energy Barriers protecting the mountaintop," Sandora looked up, "It’s been several minutes since we last saw Zeus’s lightning strike enemies. We need to hurry."

"Hopefully your dad just wants to catch his breath." I slapped Ares on the elbow, but he simply smiled faintly, "My father has guarded your treasure for 760,000 years, he will certainly persist to the last moment."

"Ssss..."

The sound of pythons hissing suddenly came from all directions. Hundreds of Medusa Snake Monsters emerged from the nearest shadows, slithering towards us. These ugly giant snakes had bodies as thick as buckets and human heads connected to multiple laser guns. They were creations mixed from the remains of dead Atlantean warriors and bio-engineered beasts, relying on remarkable life force and absolute bravery to fight. We had already eradicated more than one wave of these abominations, but clearly, in the Atlantian "Divine System," such monsters were mass-produced.

"To be honest, you’re much uglier than Rider. Luckily, she didn’t come," I said as I watched the "Medusas" gathering laser light, shaking my head regretfully. I focused my spiritual power towards the energy grid beneath their heads, "Self-destruct, at least die like an Atlantian."

"Boom boom boom!" The low-level Ghost Energy power units the Medusas were equipped with unsurprisingly exploded under my spiritual power assault. Dozens of snake monsters that had slithered past me disintegrated in the continued explosions, leaving behind only a few charred tail tips that fell to the ground, still fiercely writhing in their stubborn life force, emitting a faint black smoke.

The remaining snake monsters seemed startled, halting their attack, and raised their heads like real snakes, issuing a threatening hiss at us. But before their display was over, the creatures began collapsing one by one, not even having a chance to scream.

There were no visible wounds on their bodies, but upon closer inspection, you’d notice their shadows cast on the ground had become chillingly abnormal: fragmented and grotesquely twisted, as if their spines had been stripped of flesh and cut into pieces, scattered under each Medusa Snake Monster. Some shadows at the edges were still twitching painfully, as though they had briefly possessed life themselves.

A faint black mist quickly gathered beside me and revealed Monina’s figure. The dark assassin had a calm demeanor, with the tip of the short knife in her left hand still dripping with suspicious black phantoms. The frying pan in her right hand gleamed brilliantly, in the light shining down from the Zeus Temple on the mountain summit.

Yelsen: "... You’re not allowed to use that for cooking tonight!"

Monina struck her own brother on the forehead with a frying pan, "Just picked it up by mistake, but I didn’t use it! A single knife was enough to take care of these little guys!"

Indeed, those Medusas that died eerily were instantly killed by Monina. It was in this final battle for victory that this Dark Goddess girl, who had introduced herself as specializing in secret executions when we first met, finally revealed her true combat style to us. Before then, she had only engaged in direct combat with her short knife, just like an ordinary Scorpion Soldier (I have to admit, even without any skills enhancing her fighting techniques, Monina was more formidable than Scorpion Soldiers, with her billions of years of combat experience being unfairly advantageous).

Shadow Executioner, this was the name of the method Monina used to kill enemies, mentioned in the information shared by Sandora through our Spiritual Connection. Perhaps only the Divine Race could wield such power that surpassed scientific explanation. To activate this skill, the attacker first had to overturn their own worldview. The consciousness of the Divine Race interfered greatly with the "reality" of the world. Thus, this kind of self-worldview overturning could, to a certain extent, cause the world to present itself in the way the caster desired. In this state, Monina entered the Shadow Plane, a world where the actual body becomes a flickering shadow, and the shadows on the ground become objects that can be destroyed. Monina used the blade of her soul to shatter the most unguarded aspect of her enemies. Any enemy with a weaker soul power than hers had no chance of resistance against the attacks of the Shadow Executioner.

And so, all the Medusas died because Monina shattered their shadows and souls, her method akin to peeling potato skins.

"To be honest, I feel like I could go home for dinner now with you guys around."

Seeing Lady Goddess destroy enemies so effortlessly with an unrivaled skill, my spirit of idleness and waiting for death bubbled up again, but I was met with a roll of the eyes from Sandora. "Ah Jun, be serious!"

I shrugged in surrender. Sandora didn’t say it outright, but how could I, already in tune with her soul, not guess her meaning? To personally take part in the battle for Atlantis was, frankly, just of symbolic significance for the two of us.

Indeed, Atlantis City was nothing more than a city. No matter how large its scale or how many Abyss Monsters it contained, it was just a city. Our warships and mighty troops could conquer countless cities like it, but Atlantis alone, even if it took more time and consumed more resources, had to be conquered by Sandora and me leading the Imperial Army. We didn’t even allow any Servant Army to participate in this battle.

Because this was a territory that the Empire lost hundreds of thousands of years ago, here lay citizens who had waited for the Empire for hundreds of thousands of years. Sandora and I had to come here in person, even if this act was merely symbolic. Some things must be done and repaid, even if they offer no practical benefits.

If this were the Old Empire Era, the era of the decisive Battle Song Princess, perhaps Sandora would have scorned such matters, because these broken Atlantians held little utilitarian value for the Empire by then; they were experimental animals in the eyes of the efficiency-first Imperial People, ready to be recycled. But Sandora, slowly awakening to how this cold-heartedness had led our civilization astray, would no longer think that way.

"I know, I know, let’s keep moving forward. The last valiant Atlantians are waiting for support." Smiling, I spoke to Sandora, delighted by the increasingly human-like transformation of my lover up to this point. Although she remained cold in the face of enemies, in other situations, Sandora was really starting to seem more and more like a Human. "Oh... not these troublesome ones again."

Our squadron had already passed the last temple, leaving the dwelling place of the Medusa Snake Monsters far behind. The Ghost Energy Barrier around the outer reaches of Zeus Temple was faintly visible, but a cloud-like swarm of enemies blocked our path once more.

The troublesome ones again—Harpies.

Those bioengineered monsters, with messy black wings and one arm transformed into a Photon Cannon, concocted from the war-deceased Atlantian female soldiers and mechanical bodies, were an unconventional type of bioengineered soldier created to combat the Chaos Legion. Harpies, relying on aerodynamics for flight, couldn’t possibly face Xyrin Apostles in aerial combat. Hence, these beings weren’t originally conceived to combat the troops of "Visca," but were used for supervising: they often hovered far behind our ranks, hidden within Space Folds during intense battles, and whenever an Atlantian Soldier became mad and infected by the enemy or attempted to flee, the Harpies would surge out, extinguishing the target with concentrated fire from their cannons.

This "troop type" was born out of necessity in the brutal Doomsday War. They effectively prevented the "Demon Infection" from wreaking more havoc on our troops in battle, yet their cruel mission made them unpopular with ordinary Atlantians, despite understanding the heavy burden the Harpies bore.

Therefore, when there was no battle, the Harpies would gather in the dense forests and cave lairs of Mount Olympus, where they could live peacefully, paying no mind to the fears of the common world.

When the Star Ring Fragment struck, only a tiny portion of harpies managed to flee their hidden caves. The vast majority had already been infected by the Abyss, turned into monsters, and they now outnumbered and annoyed everyone on Mount Olympus. Although their combat strength was mediocre, their sheer numbers were infuriating.

Yelsen raised his giant shield and marched forward. Golden Holy Light radiated from the shield as its center, forming a barrier of countless hexagonal light shields linked together. The harpies’ Photon Cannons were thwarted by the Holy Light Barrier due to their "light" property, and Yelsen, with a swing of his Holy Sword, began unleashing Holy Light Cannons without limit. He shouted excitedly as he fired, "Go! Starlight Burst! Oath of Victory! Heavenly Pegasus Meteor Fist! Positive Electron City Breaking Cannon! Qi Gong Wave! Barabara—witness the power of the War God!"

Everyone behind him thought it must be Bubbles’s power. Look at what the War God had been brainwashed into.

"It seems this is the last batch—let me get a good workout!"

Bingdisi raised her hand to block Raven 001’s casting preparation, then drew out a dazzlingly splendid golden longbow from the void, stunning me on the spot.

The strongest female hooligan in history, Boss Bingdisi, and your standard equipment isn’t a brick and a steel pipe, but rather this heroine-like golden longbow? Am I seeing things, or did you grab the wrong weapon? How can this compare to the emotionally stirring power of your Wang Ba Fist!

"Don’t look at me like that. I am also the Light Goddess," Bingdisi pouted toward me and took out an arrow blazing with brilliant golden light and runes, resembling pure gold, from the quiver that appeared alongside the longbow, nocked it, and aimed at the flock of harpies continually diving at the Holy Light Barrier. "Back in my middle school days, my archery was unmatched—Oh crap!"

With a soft twang, the golden arrow flew, and mid-flight, it suddenly split into hundreds of luminous trails. Each trail seemed guided, striking a harpy with precise accuracy, quickly and painlessly purifying them into pure Light Elements.

This impressive display of Multiple Arrow Rain + Tracking Shot + Holy Light Burning earned my newfound respect for Bingdisi, who lifted her longbow, "Impressive, isn’t it? When I first started working, I was revered as the Goddess of Hunting and Guardian of Archers in some world!"

"Never mind that now!" Boli Lingmeng, no longer concerned about the lingering effects of food poisoning, instantly sprang beside Bingdisi. "Can I borrow an arrow, please?"

Bingdisi looked at this human girl oddly but generously handed over an arrow, "Sure, whatever, they’re just iron, copper-plated."

Boli Lingmeng, full of curiosity, held the deceptively delicate and costly-looking but actually categorically disappointing Holy Light Arrow, then suddenly pulled out a food card from her pocket and tied it to the arrow shaft, hopefully handing it back to Bingdisi, "Shoot another arrow, one more..."

Hell! Why didn’t I think of using Multiple Arrow Rain like that!

However, Bingdisi shook her head vigorously, looking aggrieved, "Forget it. It’s useless! I signed up for archery lessons with the same hopes as you, and damn, all those extracurricular tutorials are a scam!"

As soon as I heard, without a second word, I led the main force straight ahead. Staying with these two treasures for too long would surely trigger a mental illness.

"Boom!" A massive lightning bolt streaked above our heads at that moment, cutting a dazzling scar across the dark sky above Mount Olympus. It was the thunder of Zeus, apparently, and he was welcoming us in this way.

The ground forces ascending from every direction had already cleared out countless monsters that infested the holy mountain. There were some casualties, but with the Leader Bee present, the losses were kept to a minimum. As the last fang dug into the floating island of Atlantis was severed, the Star Ring Fragment finally lost its right to swagger, and its Abyss reaction dropped below the safety line, making it movable. A barge detached from beneath the Mother Ship and began towing the Star Ring Fragment with a traction field. We could hear the rumble like thunder and the faint vibration of the ground from the foot of the mountain. Considering the manual’s line, "in theory," Vega nearly buried half of the mountain with energy coils, and the noise was actually the sound of those coils activating simultaneously.

After clearing the last batch of harpies, Sandora and the squad I personally led became the first to assault the summit. A layer of Ghost Energy Shield, still shimmering with blue light, protected the peak of Mount Olympus. It was bright inside, in stark contrast to the gloomy, fog-shrouded sky outside. The Zeus Temple was built on a very spacious alloy platform at the top of the mountain, and the ancient, solemn building glowed under the brilliance of the Ghost Energy.

"I like this feeling of victory, trivial as it is compared to a grand battle," Sandora walked lightly in the front. "It’s been so long since I’ve personally commanded a small squad to raid a position. This feeling is really nostalgic."

Hearing Sandora speak in a tone that seemed to reminisce about school days, which perhaps dated back tens of millions of years, I, as an Earthling, felt immense pressure.

Reports came in through the communication link, one layer after another: "This is Barge No. 17, the Star Ring Fragment has physically detached from the floating island. Current status is stable. We are loading it into the barge’s space cargo hold. In fifteen minutes, the fragment will be inertially processed and transported back to the Capital."

"This is the 133rd Armored Scorpion Brigade, the Atlantis City district has been completely suppressed. We’ve taken back every street. The Valkyrie Regeneration Factory and Anubis Regeneration Factory had completed their self-purification earlier on. Now, Valkyrie and Anubis are back under control."

"This is Hermes. The Divine Servants are in place at all the temples. Atlantis is ready to set sail at any time. We have taken back our home."

Each report, symbolizing the final completion of the mission, came together, making people feel as light as the sky above Atlantis where the dark clouds had dispersed. Sandora and I exchanged smiles, as if we had finally set down a heavy stone from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

"Good work, soldiers, the battle for Atlantis is over."

At that moment, the grand doors of the Zeus Temple slowly opened with a heavy groan. Zeus himself, who had been operating the Thunder Tower within the temple, emerged. Each of his steps made the ground tremble slightly. Afterward, the grand doors, engraved with lightning and clouds, slowly closed behind him.

A radiant giant—like Hades, Zeus was a twelve-meter-tall giant. However, unlike Hades, who shrouded himself in a black cloak, this giant was clad in silver-white armor made as if forged from light. The ancient and magnificent war armor shimmered with brilliant silver light at every moment, and even the large cape flowing behind him sparkled. Although he was not as bright as Anwina and Alaya, whose very hairs could emit light, Zeus’ splendor certainly lived up to his title as the "king of gods."

The giant’s face bore a solemn expression like that of a soldier awaiting inspection, standing at the entrance of his outpost. As we approached, he forcefully struck his own chest, performing a standard Imperial military salute. His thunderous voice vibrated in our ears like distant thunder:

"My task is complete." (To be continued. If you like this work, your votes and monthly tickets at qidian.com are greatly appreciated. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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