Xyrin Empire
Chapter 400 - Chapter 400 Chapter 400 Fire One Off

Chapter 400: Chapter 400: Fire One Off Chapter 400: Chapter 400: Fire One Off “I really wanted to capture that scene about to unfold,” I thought to myself, “with high-definition angles recording the collected expression of the big boss, Mr. Aresta, the ultimate Dark Demon King in the middle of a conspiracy. I wanted to catch the panic and confusion on his face as he is resurrected as a High Order Undead on an altar covered in red runes. Then I’d compress the footage into various video formats and crazily share it around the world…”

But alas, that wouldn’t be very nice, even though I don’t particularly like him. After all, Old Fox is still my employee, isn’t he?

Following Sylvanas’ instructions, we set up a simple Spirit Summoning Technique ritual space in an empty warehouse on the flagship. In fact, with the Heroic Level Undead Power that Sylvanas wields, transforming a creature from the Middle Magic Plane into undead wouldn’t even need such a simple ritual space. However, to leave an unforgettable impression on the soon-to-be-resurrected Aresta, we still set up this dark place. It was a mishmash of the three major religions, twelve minor religions, and thirty-three sects. In short, it had Tai Chi and Eight Diagrams with the Cross drawn over them. Apart from the blood-red altar in the center, which was necessary for Sylvanas to conduct the ritual, the rest of the bizarre background decorations were crafted from sheer boredom by the Imperial Army soldiers, using handicrafts and holographic projections…

Thank goodness I was on time to chuck out that string of CDs hanging at the door.

Unfortunately, Sylvanas herself strictly refused to don a Taoist robe and wield a peach wood sword for the ceremony, much to Qianqian’s wildly imaginative disappointment.

“Ah Jun, Ah Jun! The ghouls are coming!”

Qianqian’s cheerful voice came from behind me, followed by the sound of a slew of teeth grinding in unison.

“Sylvanas… since when did it become fashionable for ghouls to wear thick gold chains?”

Just as I turned around, I saw a horde of ghouls, decked out in all manner of adornments, parading around the warehouse we had transformed into a semblance of Hell, led by Qianqian, the fearless one. I was immediately struck dumb with astonishment.

“Though they might look a bit ugly,” Sylvanas sheepishly spread her hands, “they’re still soldiers of the Salvation Army who have fought in the salvation wars, aren’t they? Mudadin almost pulled out all his beard hairs trying to invent transformable armor that these disfigured ones could wear and take off conveniently.”

…Should I even bother commenting on this?

“Change them, change them all!” I commanded magnanimously. “What are we doing here? Filming a horror movie, right? What’s up with these ghouls glittering with gold like Saint Fighters? I want them to look more hideous! Let these ghouls show off their rotting flesh and protruding bones! Put the most abstract-looking ones in the front, the ones whose every facial crease could scare a child into silence at night. And you there, with half your face chopped off, hey! I’m talking about you! That’s a symbol of status. Boldly smear some sweet bean sauce on that scar! Those with wounds on their faces are welcome to step up, golden spots are up for grabs, and you lowly soldiers might only get this one chance to be in front of the camera!”

“Divine Messenger, is it always like this with him?”

Watching someone who looked like the Dark Demon King dressed in suspect attire that screamed ‘ready to be slain by a hero’, Sylvanas timidly whispered to the girl beside her.

“Oh? Him? No, usually he’s much worse.”

Needless to say, the girl standing next to Sylvanas was Lin Xue.

After my serious selection process, a group of ghouls and little skeletons with the most lopsided, repugnant faces was ultimately honored to stand in front of the altar due to their post-modern facial arrangements. Not just Aresta, but even Sylvanas might jump if she woke up and saw these things.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Quite satisfied with Elm Street Squad’s spooky looks, I retched and said, “Come over here, Sylvanas… I can’t take it much longer…”

The Dark Queen approached stiffly, distorted her face as she glanced over her soldiers, and firmly concluded, “It’s good that my stomach is of no use now…”

“Don’t wait until Aresta wakes up only to get scared to death again.”

As soon as I returned to the base of the altar, ready to watch Sylvanas cast her spell, Sandora surreptitiously tugged at my sleeve and spoke. If there was anyone else present who could regard those disgusting and terrifying undead creatures with indifference, it could only be Sandora, a quintessential Xyrin Apostle–she had encountered creatures so revolting that a single big head poster was said to be able to annihilate a whole troop of knights (assuming they had a normal aesthetic sense).

I couldn’t even begin to imagine the more disgusting creatures Sandora had seen, but I thought it was great that she had already exterminated those guys…

Under our inhumane… ahem, observation, Sylvanas finally began the transformation ritual for Aresta, the man who had been hanging upside down in a tube for decades and whose body now lay cold on the altar, preserved in a frozen force field specimen-style. But soon, Aresta was about to gloriously rise as a creature like the Aresta Skeleton Walker.

The transformation ceremony performed by Sylvanas was far from complicated, lacking the spectacle I had imagined from Spirit Summoning Techniques. Perhaps it was because she, as a High Order Undead herself, had eliminated many unnecessary steps. In my view, the Dark Queen, who always wore a peculiar expression, simply stood beside the altar, murmuring a few bizarre compound syllables, and then abruptly thrust her hand into the frozen force field.

A filthy blackish-green light spread out from Sylvanas’s hand, thick like a liquid, rapidly covering Aresta’s entire body. Layers of bizarre green runes materialized from the air, encircling the whole altar in a continuous spin.

The entire process lasted less than five seconds, and then it was over.

“Ssss–” Sylvanas had barely finished the ceremony when she hopped down from the altar and began vigorously shaking her hand, “That thing is even colder than the Frozen Crown!”

Me: “…”

The frozen force field was quickly released upon completion of the transformation ceremony, and a group of skulking zombies circled Aresta under Sylvanas’s command.

The newly resurrected Aresta was clearly awake, though not yet accustomed to his nearly new body. The way the undead perceived the world around them was certainly different from the living, so it took nearly a minute of violent shivering before he slowly opened his eyes.

Contrary to my expectations, Aresta, upon seeing the corpses all around him and the ominously eerie atmosphere, didn’t panic at all. Instead, he closed his eyes again, his tone calm, “Hell, huh? Didn’t expect it to actually exist… Tch, but it was within expectations.”

…This guy, you even know you’re only fit for hell, you jerk!

“Although I’d really like to say you truly deserve to die, before your value is completely drained, I’ll still let you live.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, Aresta’s recently closed eyes snapped open, reflecting the image of a suspicious figure clad in a black cloak.

Yep, just like a Demon King about to step out and get slain by the hero.

“…Is… it… you…”

Aresta’s voice was hoarse as he spoke, his lifeless vocal cords producing a raspy sound with the help of undead power, yet I could still detect a hint of shock in his voice and a faint terror that was no longer subdued.

At that moment, I was draped in a black robe, half of my face hidden in the shadow of my hood, and behind me was a chaotic throng of undead–I didn’t even have to guess how I appeared in Aresta’s eyes.

“I… should be dead…”

Aresta said hesitantly, his thoughts seemingly a bit sluggish, yet his tone conveyed his confusion well.

“That’s right, you’re dead,” I said nonchalantly, casually pointing to a ghoul licking its paw beside me, “just like that one, dead, but you haven’t yet served me well enough. So, like it, you must continue to work for me.”

I noticed that Aresta’s muscles tensed in an instant, and a look of fear flickered in his eyes. As a great Mage of the past, he understood his predicament without having to think.

“Undead creatures… they completely defy the rules set by ‘God’ and should not exist in this world. Are they a power from beyond this world?” Aresta seemed like he wanted to gasp for breath, but his lungs only made a gurgling noise for a while. “You’re crueler than I imagined… Alien clad in the guise of a Savior… ugh!”

Sylvanas did nothing more than frown, and the recently insolent Aresta was in too much pain to make a sound.

“Listen, you don’t need to know too much,” I bent down to look into Aresta’s eyes, “I like it when each of my servants is loyal to me until their ashes scatter. If you don’t want to become like these Walking Dead, then continue to show me your loyalty!”

The light in Aresta’s eyes flickered, and ultimately he let out a long sigh in response, “I will obey your commands, powerful Alien.”

“Very well,” I nodded with satisfaction and then stood up straight, “Take him back to the surface. We have a new Puppet now!”

Ten minutes later, on the flagship’s bridge.

“Wow haha! Ah Jun, Ah Jun! You’re such a genius actor!”

Such an exuberant voice could only belong to Qianqian, who was now clutching her stomach in uncontrollable laughter, imitating how I had just pretended to be the Demon King.

Lin Xue curled her lips in disdain: “What a natural-born scammer, deceiving anyone he sees.”

Even though she spoke with disapproval, her merriment had been no less than Qianqian’s just a moment ago.

“The mystery is the most effective way to control one’s servants. I think the Divine Messenger’s strategy was very wise.” Although Sylvanas had already been dealing with us for a while in Azeroth, she obviously still wasn’t used to the way we unreliable folks thought, and immediately defended me seriously.

Sandora watched us fool around for a while, but eventually coughed seriously to bring our focus back to the matter at hand, “Cough cough… Aresta has been dealt with, now the final calibration of the Super Space-Time Sniper Star Cannon is completed. Who will take the shot later?”

“Me~Me me!” Qianqian immediately jumped up excitedly, for her, anything she hadn’t touched was worth meddling with, even if she had no idea what the Sniper Star Cannon was.

“I want to try it too…” Lin Xue tried to appear calm, but the fervor in her eyes was even more intense than Qianqian’s. This girl was a standard machinery fanatic; she was the one who could dismantle curve engines with nothing but a pair of pliers and a toolset!

After the two girls finished speaking, Pandora also tugged at my sleeve and looked up at me with 45-degree pleading ‘Loli killer eyes.’

Seriously, Shorty, can you not remember your Loli attributes only when it’s time to destroy planets?

Before I could react, the mention of Sandora had sparked the girls’ intense desire to wreak havoc, and they had come to a consensus to play ‘rock-paper-scissors’ and then take turns firing the weapon, as if the Sniper Star Cannon, capable of vaporizing an entire planet, was as trivial to them as setting off fireworks.

“Hey, are you planning to annihilate the entire Solar System?” I put my hand to my forehead and spoke in a deep tone, “Fire that thing twice and it’ll cause a spatial collapse! And do you think the energy of Super Space-Time weapons is infinite? They need at least three days to recharge!”

“Oh…” The girls all deflated.

Unknowingly, it seemed we had become the most dangerous group in the universe?

After quelling the nonsensical tussle between a few girls, the task of firing the Sniper Star Cannon ultimately fell to me. After all, a Super Space-Time Armor like that was most suitable for someone with my abilities–Taville had designed it specifically for me, a powerful weapon tailored to my needs.

Of course, under normal circumstances, it could also be accessed by the Imperial Army’s highest command chain. To use a Sniper Star Cannon solely as my personal, ornamental weapon would be shamelessly excessive. If that were the intention, we’d better wait until Taville mass-produced the darn thing.

Following the data transmitted by Taville, I successfully established a connection with the Sniper Star Cannon, located in a space fold of another universe. The difficulty felt similar to when I’d link up with the armed satellites of the Mother Star, except the energy intensity was downright alarming–the gamma rays released by two rogue neutron stars, even with all the safety mechanisms designed by the Xyrin Scientists, posed significant stability problems.

Then came the part about super-long-range targeting guided by Sandora, which she had me practice every chance we got in recent days. Truth be told, grasping that was much more difficult than directly controlling the Sniper Star Cannon with the innate talents in my abilities. My usual attacks relied on visual contact with the target. This wasn’t to say my attack range was only as far as I could see; according to Sandora’s earlier analysis, my powers should allow me to utilize energy to attack any location in any world–an indication that, in theory, I could stand on Namek, harness Ultraman Beams from the M78 Nebula, and sweep across Cybertron. However, due to species limitations, the human brain struggles with processing things beyond its understanding (those born with such abilities excepted), for example…

How do you aim at a planet when you have no clue where it is, completely unaided by any device?

For the Xyrin People, this was a non-issue; every one of them had their brains integrated with an indescribable array of fire control systems and aiming devices. Pandora could even direct a hundred Ghost Energy Warheads to strike a hundred different targets within a Constant Star System with her eyes closed, setting off each to detonate down to the millisecond. Hence, Sandora simply couldn’t grasp why I utterly failed to understand the concept of “non-existent perspective”.

Still, after such extensive training, even without altering the natural structure of my brain, I was able to make some progress with my talent-based abilities.

At least finding a single large target within a Star System was now within my reach. Personally, that was a rather thrilling improvement–even if I was still mere dust compared to Pandora’s freakish fire control systems.

For Sandora, concurrently monitoring tens of thousands of asteroids between the Earth-Moon System and locking onto a Star Ring Fragment within a microsecond… Well, that level of performance was just beyond consideration.

“Warning, gravitational anomalies detected at the designated target region, space refractive index increased, large mass celestial body predicted to emerge… Repeat, warning, gravitational anomalies detected…”

The sudden announcement in the command center interrupted my practice. Sandora nodded at me, “Ah Jun, it’s all on you now.”

Then, right in front of me, Lin Xue grumbled, “Besides, since the Sniper Star Cannon is already linked to the command chain, it doesn’t matter if you can’t aim…”

I heard that, you jerk!

At that moment, I had no time to bicker with Lin Xue. It was my first time using such a rule-breaking device, and I was tasked with destroying a planet I couldn’t even see–without any confidence in success (the idea of attacking an invisible target was indeed daunting for me). Despite Taville’s “theoretically foolproof” assurance, I couldn’t help feeling nervous.

I spread my spiritual power as Sandora had described, and through self-hypnosis, temporarily forgot my identity as a human. I just considered myself a drifting consciousness, a ceaseless wave of emanation. Gradually, I lost the constraints of a human physique…

The massive “Imperial Admiral” flagship, countless ships of the Imperial Fleet, the crisp blue Earth, the Moon, fragments of asteroids…

Anything could serve as a reference point for coordinates, my spiritual power leaping and expanding endlessly within this realm, eventually diffusing into a state beyond my comprehension.

A murky ocean, where matter and energy were reduced to basic descriptive information–the Sun turned into a pulsating cluster of data, each asteroid simplified into mere footnotes, Earth represented by a diamond icon…

And then, there was the massive anomaly–a foreign celestial body contaminating this universe with its otherworldly existence. This was how the world appeared to the Xyrin Apostles, strictly speaking, in a particular observational state.

So… let’s do this! You interstellar germ… (To be continued, for what happens next, please visit www.NovelFire.net. There are more chapters with regular updates, support the author and the legitimate reading experience!)

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.