Xyrin Empire-Chapter 268 - The Trio in Cloaks
Chapter 268: Chapter 268: The Trio in Cloaks
Chapter 268: Chapter 268: The Trio in Cloaks
Dim dawn—this description fits the morning in the Tirisfal Region most aptly.
The brilliant sunlight was blocked by thick clouds and then diffused as it struggled to reach the rotting soil of Tirisfal. By the time it did, the originally bright golden rays had aged like an old man at the end of his days, barely proclaiming the start of a new day with a dim halo. However, this rather unpleasant morning seemed perfectly fine to the current residents. Massive demons, grotesquely larger than any common knowledge of size and equipped with mechanically fitted limbs, patrolled the scorched, decaying land in groups. Occasionally, they sniffed the air as if they relished the pervasive stench of decay. Sporting twisted smiles, they boasted about their robust new bodies or casually smashed the skulls of some unfortunate undead workers. They watched the latter clumsily scramble over piles of broken bones on the ground before collapsing weakly, bursting into rough, unpleasant laughter. The Fallen Apostles overseeing this did not bother to stop such behavior; perhaps, they thought, such entertainments kept the demons vigorously energetic and in good spirits, which was crucial for these novel killing machines to function with peak efficiency. Or maybe they simply didn’t consider such trivial commotion worth noticing, just as nobody cares when tools occasionally collide.
The crash of the Eternal Level and the disastrous defeat of the aerial main forces had been uploaded to every Fallen Apostle’s database, yet it was highly classified information for the demon and undead troops. Unlike the eternally loyal Xyrin People, who never knew surrender, the Fallen Apostles didn’t quite understand what “morale” of carbon-based life meant, but they knew that such demoralizing information shouldn’t be disclosed to their expendable troops. To the massive explosion that obliterated the Western Plague Land, the Fallen Apostles attributed it to a collision of Divine-level Weapons, conveniently omitting the immense loss of their own aerial fleet. Such explanations exhilarated the power-worshipping demons, bringing the morale of the entire Burning Legion—well, although it had been a demon army now fully usurped and essentially defunct under the Fallen Apostles—to its peak. They were bursting with confidence, thrilled to battle under the mighty Dark God, unconcerned about the comrades vaporized in the Western Plague explosion, which indeed aligned with the demons’ nature.
Such deception could not last forever, but the Fallen Apostles had already planned ahead. The Burning Legion’s utility was nearly exhausted; the life of these assembled demons was the last remaining value of the once-mighty Demon Army. As for the members of the Catastrophe Army—though admittedly brave, these undead creatures with limited potential for enhancement were even sooner abandoned completely by the Fallen Apostles. They only needed to fulfill their role as cannon fodder dutifully in the final three days, just hold out until the World Loop was activated, and all would be well.
In the center of the Ruins of Lordaeron, atop a typical Xyrin-style tower, a Holographic Projection System was displaying the scene at the edge of Tirisfal. Watching the “interesting little game” between the demons and the undead, a man concealed entirely in a black cloak suddenly let out a scornful snicker.
“Humph, what a bunch of fools… Carbon-based life forms are all the same level of stupid.”
“They still dream of ruling the world under the leadership of the Dark God…” A young woman’s voice rose, revealing the presence of a female among these suspicious cloaked figures. This woman, too, was tightly wrapped in a cloak, only a strand of bright silver hair peeking out from the edge of her hood, seemingly intentional, “Such laughable lower beings… They don’t even realize they’ve been abandoned… they haven’t even noticed the gradual disintegration happening inside their bodies…”
“Tools always break eventually,” the man who spoke earlier said in a low tone, then slightly tilted his head toward another cloaked figure, addressing him, “Ocam, when can the World Loop finally be activated? Can’t you think of a way to get that damned thing moving a day or two earlier?”
The one called Ocam, like a statue frozen in time, turned a deaf ear to the query. After several seconds had passed, when the other was already showing signs of impatience, he responded with a raspy voice, “Mind your tone, Savi. I am not your subordinate, nor do you have any right to critique my work…”
“My tone!?” The man identified as Savi swiftly spun around and, before anyone could react, grabbed Ocam by the throat, lifting him into the air with one hand, the anger in his voice undisguised, “Who handed the Energy Probe to a foolish and reckless demon? Who placed such crucial data in the hands of a lower carbon-based life form? Because of your mistake, the tuning of the World Loop had to start over. If not for you, every inch of this world would have already been occupied by our army!!”
Hanging in the air, Ocam seemed completely unconcerned about his current predicament, his voice remaining steady as he replied, “Savi, I think you’re misunderstanding something… The current disastrous state isn’t solely due to that idiotic demon… Has your Memory Core aged to the point where you can’t remember what happened three days ago? Our fleet, which we struggled so much to transport to this world, nearly perished under the madness of that small traitor, our airborne fortresses even fell from the sky in the most humiliating way, still smoking over the land in the west… So, who was it that agreed to let that traitor command the interception forces initially?”
“You!” Savi’s body trembled slightly, clearly angered, yet the young woman suddenly spoke up, her voice thick with irony, “Ah, men truly excel at shirking responsibility under such circumstances…”
Although there was no clear distinction in levels, the woman’s words still seemed to have an effect. The two men who were nearly squabbling—or rather, Savi who almost unilaterally initiated the quarrel—finally let out a cold snort and let the opposite number, Cloak Number Three, off the hook. The latter, from the start, remained utterly indifferent as if everything happening around him was unrelated to him.
“Many things have taken us by surprise,” the young woman resumed after the two men had momentarily regained their calm, “we did not expect to suddenly encounter a small squad of the Divine Race, nor did we foresee that an Empire supposed to be completely extinct still harbored residual Emperor Level power. They even tracked down this world… I did not expect that 7535 would suddenly betray us for reasons nobody understands… I actually quite liked that little one, hehe, such a pity…”
The woman spoke these words, but her tone seemed devoid of any genuine regret, as if she were merely lamenting the loss of a decent toy.
“7535’s spirit was originally abnormal,” Ocam spoke in a tone that sounded as if nothing concerned him, “Oh, that was originally an imperfect clone, or more accurately put, a crudely made replacement tool. Hence, it’s normal for her soul to be flawed. Of course, her power had some value, but honestly, I still had reservations about letting her enter our group at this level…”
“Is that the superior’s idea,” Savi challenged, “or do you doubt the decisions made by the superior?”
“When exactly do you plan to stop quarreling?” the young woman interrupted their dispute once again. It seemed such arguments had not been infrequent in the past, “Right now, our most pressing matter is something else. The Divine Race has noticed us here, and we must obtain what we want before they block all the Void Channels in this world. Success or failure hinges on this—the World Loop will still take at least three days to activate. Only then can we secure our absolute advantage, but I don’t think the enemy will give us enough time. Their fleet has already departed, and I fear the next moment they will…”
“Allow me to interrupt you, Lady Bellavilla,” Savi suddenly spoke, his tone slightly rising with a hint of frivolity, “I don’t believe they can breach the iron defenses I’ve set up within three days—when necessary, I will personally go to the battlefield and teach those youngsters a lesson.”
It seemed Lady Bellavilla was slightly displeased with his frivolous tone, her voice hardening as she spoke, “You’re too confident, Savi. I know you love to fight, but the enemy we face this time contains many unknowns. Those carbon-based life forms—although their form of life is low-level, the powers they hold are inexplicable to us. Especially that male carbon-based life form with Emperor privileges, who knows why an Emperor of the Xyrin Empire would be a carbon-based life. He gives us an unsettling feeling. You might have noticed, he rarely acts, and even has never shown much power on the frontal battlefield. Even when a battle occurs, he always resolves everything in front of him within an extremely short time. They seem to be deliberately keeping the combat capabilities of this strange Emperor confidential. Therefore, our data on him is very limited. What is that ability to summon firepower from the Otherworld without any external help? What kind of attack method, similar to Void Energy, does it produce? How does it foresee or dodge? We know nothing about it, so…”
Just as Bellavilla was about to continue lecturing, a burst of white light from the Holographic Projection System interrupted her.
“Wow,” Ocam exaggeratedly exclaimed, “It seems we will soon experience the power that has even the esteemed Lady Bellavilla on edge. They have already arrived…”
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