Xyrin Empire
Chapter 417 - Chapter 417 Chapter 417 Uncle Z

Chapter 417: Chapter 417 Uncle Z Chapter 417: Chapter 417 Uncle Z An endless swarm of insects churned toward us, like living muck alive and heaving, wave upon wave of purple-black billows growing ever higher. Our ears were filled with the incessant hisses and the friction of carapaces. Among them were jumping worms swinging their limbs, the size of small mammoths, mixed with gigantic, thick-shelled cockroaches, and all manner of strangely mutated members of the insect race. They seemed utterly fearless, undaunted by the sight of thousands of their own being reduced to rotting flesh by some eerie and unexplained force; instead, they were rushing towards us in a suicidal charge. Lilina was still pale-faced in my arms, stripped of all those titles, she was just an ordinary girl. Despite having traveled through space and time, despite having experienced the Undead Catastrophe in Azeroth, she had probably never faced such a violent scene of flying guts and blood. So much so that she wasn’t even aware she was being princess-carried by me. Instead, she clutched my collar like a real little girl, huddling as close as she could in my embrace.

But fear aside, the surging life energy around us didn’t diminish in the slightest. Lilina was doing remarkably well in this regard; no matter how uncomfortable she felt inside, she never forgot her mission–though right now, considering Vega’s sweeping attacks that fell like autumn leaves and Qianqian’s brutal, merciless brushes with time, we hardly needed to worry about injuries.

These insect creatures were simply too frail when facing a Leader-level Xyrin Apostle. Sometimes the theory that quantity trumps quality also needed a limit.

“Thunder Cutting!”

Vega, in the midst of her charge, suddenly roared, and the Ship-Slicing Blade in her hand shimmered with a blinding blue-white electric light. Then, with a swift motion, the blade, over two meters long, turned into a blur of afterimages. The crescent-shaped vacuum edge, along with the bright electric arc, suddenly extended nearly half a kilometer, chopping a vast number of insects at the waist. She then leaped high into the air, and the two-ton metallic body of the Armored Scorpion crashed heavily onto the back of a Thunder Beast that dared to swing its pincers at her. Six mechanical legs pierced through the beast’s shell, and in the ensuing splash of blood plasma, Vega’s dual blades took less than a millisecond to neatly slice the enemy below her into three parts.

I comfortably maintained an energy shield that could protect us all, and even had the leisure to admire the concentric circles produced by the Spine Snake’s bone spurs on Chaos. I had curiously tested the attack’s power with my hand earlier; it was about as powerful as a human anti-tank missile, easily piercing human-made power armor or overcoming the Protos Divine Race’s plasma shields through sheer numbers. To us, it was equivalent to a non-threatening target…

I was confident that the strength of my energy shield was enough that all the Spine Snakes in the world could spray until they were calcium-deficient and not cause the slightest damage to it. As long as energy existed in this world, I was infinitely more mana-rich than the Sun Well.

“I say, are you just going to watch the show all the way through?”

A muffled voice suddenly came from my chest, and when I looked down, I saw Lilina had finally poked her head out, still looking pale but seemingly almost back to full strength.

Come to think of it, surely she hadn’t thrown up on my chest already, had she?

Luckily, Lilina, being such a pure Divine-made creature, probably didn’t possess such a physical imperfection. The little girl’s face was just wracked with bitterness, but still, she gazed up at me with bright eyes, her face a picture of righteous indignation at someone’s shirking of duties.

“With the two of them there, there’s no need to worry about taking care of all these insects.”

I dismissed it with a nonchalant curl of the lip. I don’t need to mention how strong Vega’s melee abilities are. Even with basic combat skills, she could effortlessly mow down a hundred thousand jumping worms without breaking a sweat or messing up her hair, and considering the electricity currently dancing around Scorpion Sister, I had no doubt she could perform a flawless in-and-out in this sea of insects.

Then there’s Qianqian… do I even need to say anything about her? If she wanted, she could just stand here with the time domain active and clean up these millions of insects by herself! I refuse to believe that the bodies of carbon-based life could evolve to withstand the passage of time!

So, why would I need to lift a finger?

“What a lazy bum…” Lilina grumbled in my arms, nagging to herself, “Isn’t this the time when you big men like to play the hero to impress the girls? You really are an odd one…”

“What?” Because of the noise from the insect swarm around us, I only heard Lilina mutter something, but had no idea what she actually said.

“It’s nothing… the harem boy…”

What did I do to provoke her?

Our nearly supersonic charge covered the distance of tens of kilometers in no time at all, and with the Leader-level Apostles attacking, the fragile Insect Race had no power to fight back. The Protos structure Vega mentioned was now within reach. I couldn’t deduce its purpose, but judging by the grand multi-tiered tower-like structure and the two large sculptures made of crystal and mystic alloys at the main entrance, it must be, just like Vega said, something like a ritual hall.

The “Divine Race” building was surrounded by an extremely strong Arcane Shield that radiated a blue glow, with large arcs of electricity constantly splashing from the shield like spinning blades, turning the nearby insects to ashes. Such high-end ability to merge two entirely different kinds of magic into one skill might take a lifetime for a human Mage to study, but for Raven, it was an essential skill: the quantum computing core in their minds could effortlessly simulate a dozen thought processes at the same time.

But in my view, although the Arcane Shield prevented the insects from getting close, it was an undeniable fact that the warriors stationed here were at a disadvantage. Hundreds of millions of insects from the Insect Race densely gathered in this nearly boundless cave, filling every inch of space from the sky to the ground. Hundreds of soldiers from the landing troops, a large number of them were ordinary Xyrin Soldiers and Mages from Azeroth. Such combat power might be sufficient for an exploration team, but it was absolutely impossible for them to break through the encirclement by the sea of millions of insects.

But speaking of breaking through… how the hell did they get in here, damn it!

“Spirits of the ancestors, bless us! The Divine Envoy has arrived!!”

As we charged through the blood and carnage into the safe zone formed by the Arcane Shield, a Tauren Shaman, who was busily hammering titanium alloy totems into the ground with a Power Hammer, immediately pulled up his mask, his bull nostrils puffing white smoke–I was thankful the Power Armor made by Xyrin restricted the oxygen environment to just near the helmet with an Energy Barrier, otherwise this Tauren uncle would have become the first Azerothian to suffocate on an alien planet.

“What on earth is going on? Are all the other warriors here?”

I nodded to the Tauren uncle and helped him set his Power Hammer to “HIGH” mode, then turned to a Xyrin Commander who was directing soldiers in the deployment of an anti-proton gun.

The nameless Commander gave a standard military salute and reported to me with the distinct steel voice of a soldier, “Your Majesty! The third Raven Squad, the seventeenth and nineteenth Marines are all assembled here! We were directly teleported near this strange Protos Temple due to a transfer error. When we arrived, this place was already surrounded by the Insect Race. A small team of Protos Warriors were resisting the insects using the energy field of the temple itself. Our communication with the outside world was cut off, and we have been fighting here for one hour. Now the Marine Corps Soldiers have ample reserve energy, the Magic Army is mildly fatigued, and Raven 003 has set up a stable Arcane Shield, which can maintain the fight for over twenty-four hours! Report complete!”

I quickly scanned the surroundings. The building behind us occupied a few thousand square meters and was not very large. It had a pentagonal prism shape with three floors, and the walls were embedded with many glowing blue crystals. The arched doors and columns had a distinctive Protos style. The Arcane Shield arranged by Raven 003 completely enveloped the entire building, and within half a kilometer, it had become a safe zone free of insects. However, outside the shield, the Insect Race was still launching suicidal attacks on the temple.

“Where are those Protos Natives?” I asked curiously. They better not have died off already; they don’t have the OP combat strength of a single Xyrin Warrior.

“The Protos Natives suffered heavy casualties. When we entered the battle, there were only a dozen or so who could still stand. Now they have been placed inside the temple, receiving treatment from Blood Elf Priests. However, according to what the Spellcasters say, the spiritual energy within the Protos disrupts magic elements, and conventional healing magic has little effect on them.”

I nodded and ordered Vega to lead the Scorpion Soldiers to reinforce the line of defense, then, I walked into the Protos Temple with Qianqian and Lilina to visit those unfortunate “Divine Race” warriors.

The last time I had a brief conversation with a Protos Commander named Du Han was just over the communication device, so this could be considered my first formal encounter with the Protos Race. And unexpectedly, we would be meeting under such circumstances.

Entering through the grand doors of the temple, we were immediately met with a vast hall. The walls were embedded with countless oval-shaped ice-blue crystals, constantly exuding a faint glow that illuminated the entire hall. Spanning thousands of square meters, the space contained not a single pillar. Instead, gently curving gold alloy walls seemed to “grow” from the seamlessly connected floor, supporting the dome overhead, which was covered in mysterious script. Drifting throughout the hall was a very faint energy field, which I suspected to be the spiritual power of the Protos — spreading outward from its source, the several blue-skinned De Lai… uh, Protos Clan members, who sat in meditation at the center of the hall.

No matter how many times I saw it, the tendrils… tentacles really, on the chin of the Protos males were always worth a full score of criticism!

Our entrance, of course, did not escape the notice of these warriors who had honed their combat skills over hundreds of years. I could clearly sense a dozen weak spiritual forces concentrating on me, but ultimately, only one “Divine Race” stood to greet us — draped in a dark, worn cloak, his face hidden behind a mask that revealed only a pair of eyes shimmering with ghostly light.

This look, why does it feel so familiar?

“So, you must be the emperor and Divine Envoy that these mysterious and powerful warriors revere,” said the towering Protos native, his height double that of Pandora stacked on top of herself (should I consider making Pandora’s height a standard unit of measurement?). He spoke in a low, soft tone, “Perhaps it is fate that guided us to meet in this ancestral holy land, stranger. I had heard of your arrival.”

“Oh,” I nodded, “Then let’s skip the small talk. I am Chen Jun, Emperor of the Xyrin Empire. My warriors have fortified the defenses here, and now I want to know what has happened — ah, and your name as well.”

“You may call me Zeratul,” the tall Protos in front of me revealed, to my astonishment. He indeed was the famed Uncle Z! No wonder his appearance seemed so familiar to me!

However, Uncle Z, who was typically known for his lone-wolf image, appearing here with his clan in this godforsaken Bump Star mine had me greatly intrigued: what were they doing here?

“Many days ago, I heard about a mysterious civilization similar to humans arriving in this star zone and waging war against the Insect Race,” Zeratul continued in his deep voice, unhurriedly, “For this reason, I came to investigate and stumbled upon this long-forgotten Protos sanctuary. I killed the brood mother, then delved into the bowels of the planet with my followers… We discovered this sacred hall, but after activating the temple, the residual Insect Race on the planet almost entirely swarmed here, drawn by the energy it emitted. Trapped by their numbers, we fought hard for several days, utterly exhausted, until those powerful Mysterious Warriors suddenly appeared around the temple, establishing a formidable defensive line. They saved my people from annihilation and proclaimed that the most powerful emperor in the universe would alleviate the predicament here — that’s what has happened.”

Upon hearing this, I gained immense respect for Uncle Z.

Tens of millions of Insect Race! He actually led just a few Templars to resist for several days within this temple!

This fighting strength was nearly on par with that of an average Imperial Officer!

What made me admire him even more was that he clearly had the opportunity to leave — indeed, as one of the most powerful Protos assassins, his Permanent Stealth and various Shadow Teleportation skills would allow this formidable “Divine Race” warrior to effortlessly escape this cavern. But he didn’t leave, just to not abandon his followers!

In the ensuing conversation, I also roughly understood why our warriors had all converged here: an Ancient “Divine Artifact” was preserved within this Protos temple, which, once Zeratul accidentally activated it, continued to emit energy fluctuations. The Protos Clan’s level of technology, although not possibly comparable to that of the Xyrin Empire, was at least eligible to converse with the Empire in the field of technology (especially now with the Empire’s technology tree still largely incomplete). The mysterious artifact had disrupted the spatial positioning systems of three squads, and while their team leaders, upon realizing the disruption and trying to temporarily use Space Transmission to return to the surface, they were transmitted to this ghastly place due to a misjudgment of coordinates.

Of course, this might also be related to the negligence of the three squad leaders themselves, who never imagined the Transporters installed in their bodies since birth could be interfered with, thus missing the slight deviation in spatial coordinates.

After listening to Zeratul’s account, I naturally developed a keen interest in that “Divine Artifact.” However, it seemed that Zeratul highly valued that Protos treasure. At least to me, a sudden and unfamiliar “Emperor,” he did not have much trust, even though my warriors were helping him guard this temple. I understood his position.

“These warriors are seriously injured.”

When I inquired about Zeratul and their situation, he spoke in a grave tone, then led me to a dozen Templar who were sitting in meditation.

“They lack sufficient medical treatment and can only use meditation to suppress their own pain. The miraculous powers of the soldiers you call ‘Priests’ can also greatly alleviate the pain caused by the venomous corruption of the Insect Swarm, but for these warriors, their souls have already returned to Shakuras, may they rest in peace…”

Zeratul was referring to the more than ten bodies of Protos Warriors lying quietly in a corner of the temple.

“Shakuras must be several light years away from here,” Lilina shrugged her shoulders and walked forward, “Even if the souls of you Protos are dual-core, they can’t outrun that speed.”

Saying this, Lilina slowly raised her hands under Zeratul’s puzzled gaze, a serene expression like a Holy Mother appearing on her face, as a green light gradually filled the entire hall.

“So the souls that don’t want to die halfway should all obediently return to their bodies! In the name of the merciful Goddess, get up and work for me!!”

Dare you be any more audacious?

But at this moment, Zeratul was too preoccupied to express astonishment or protest at Lilina’s explosive remarks, because some kind of powerful energy beyond his understanding was gradually gathering, then transforming into a huge green pillar of light, descending upon those fallen Protos Warriors to the accompaniment of a faint, soft song.

“Ghost Energy can resist magic, but no one can refuse the will of the Goddess.”

Having struck a cool pose, Lilina, while maintaining her mid-air levitated stance from casting the spell, boastfully called out to me for credit.

Tsk, how pitiful, even while floating in the air, she’s still half a head shorter than me.

“Shakuras above! What am I witnessing!? The return of life!”

Zeratul cried out in shock, because the Protos Warriors, who were cold corpses just a second ago, were now sitting up as if nothing had happened, looking around with puzzled expressions. Through the familiar aura that reemerged, Zeratul could completely rule out the possibility that these compatriots’ bodies were being controlled.

“Life is precious, so thank you for your patronage, that will be sixty-eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty dollars~~~”

Lilina continued to embody her unreliable spirit, swooping down in front of Zeratul with a wicked smile that made the always calm Uncle Z show a highly embarrassed expression.

(My monthly ticket is showing a weak trend, don’t let me fall down!!) (To be continued, for what comes next please log in to www.NovelFire.net, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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