"They’re back!!!"
A cry from a million people surged like furious waves into the skies, suddenly stirring the ancient city to a boil in the quiet twilight, the resulting montum even causing the thick clouds above the city, heavy enough to obscure all light, to begin dispersing.
Atlantis was now positioned between the Earth and the Moon. At this location, the enormous moon blocked the sunlight, and only a discontinuous golden strip of light peeked through the thick clouds in the sky, as if it were a crack tearing through the boundless dark, leading towards the light. The massive shadow of the warships glided slowly across this strip of light, conjuring an image of lying on the sandy ocean floor watching a gigantic whale swim above, blocking out the sun, as countless swift, silver shadows detached from the warship, and, like envoys descending from the do of heaven, wrapped in halos, they rushed toward the ground. The news brought earlier by the returning warriors was now finally confird, sparking a surge of excitent among the million ancient people.
Silver assault ships streaked across the low skies of Atlantis, sweeping over the defense line steadfastly held by ancient warriors before rushing toward the severely polluted districts. There, the streets were covered with eerie black patterns. These two-dinsional designs had crept over the city through the network of pipes and were now contending with the remaining Ghost Energy in the defense system. Ominous dark mists, fueled by this spread of infection, shrouded the streets, and within the fog lurked countless shaking figures: tall, muscular Atlantian Infected with crimson eyes.
Assault ships, optimized for high-velocity armor penetration, were not suited for bombing runs and, moreover, this precious city was not a target for bombardnt. The mission of these war machines was to deploy ground troops within the city and then provide support to the Olympus frontline from low altitude.
After the onboard high-speed photon cannons had roughly cleared out the most dangerous Mutant Monsters, the assault ships opened their cargo bays, and valiant warriors, without any protective or decelerating gear, leapt directly from nearly a kiloter high, plumting towards the ground. Amid the flickering of Phase Shift Blades glowing with energy, many of the instinctively airborne monsters attempting to intercept were instantly turned into fragnts, fluttering down from the sky—Vega, Imperial Chief of Weapon Battle, had made her entrance with her war machines.
These close-combat queens equipped with half a chanical Scorpion body were weapons all over, and they excelled in using any part of their terrifying figures to destroy enemies, such as their claws and tails. The impact of over two tons of steel plumting from a kiloter high was astonishing. Moreover, the Armored Scorpions maliciously aid at the heads of their foes below; their sharp chanical appendages stretched out, piercing directly downward with trendous force, effortlessly penetrating the skulls and limbs of those powerful yet flesh-and-blood Mutant Beings, pinning one enemy after another to the ground. Even those mutants that managed to avoid vital points and were only impaled were, in the next instant, decapitated by a Phase Shift Blade as a public example or simply flattened to a pulp by a tail slap.
Having entered the battlefield alongside Sandora and landing in the sa zone as Vega, I was fortunate enough to witness once more the Armored Scorpions’ penchant for violent art in warfare—or what you might call Vega-style violent aesthetics.
"Boom!!!"
Almost like the sound of a heavy bomb dropping, a two-ton Scorpion Sister landed with a thunderous crash less than a hundred ters in front of . This armored girl, having been deprived of combat for too long, ford a half-ter-deep impact crater on the ground that spread cracks over tens of ters. The resulting shock wave even forced Sandora and to raise our Shields to preserve our hairstyles.
The combination of a violent older sister type and military officer lady did indeed embody a fierce spirit from head to toe.
An unlucky Mutant Monster found itself right at the landing point of Scorpion Sister; such bad luck certainly wasn’t by chance: I dare say that Vega had adjusted her position at least three tis mid-air to land so precisely. Now, what used to be a three-ter-tall creature had its torso pierced by six sharp chanical limbs, like a tattered doll at the bottom of the crater, becoming a heap of ’harmonious substances’, while the commanding Armored Scorpion was gently stretching her body, casually lifting a chanically jointed limb stained with blood, and then stabbing forcefully to grant a swift end to the extraordinarily tenacious foe beneath her feet. Afterward, she lifted her blade and commanded, "Attack at will!"
Hundreds of Armored Scorpions in that district responded to their commander by clashing their blades together, a thunderous tallic clashing sound that spurred on these helium-3-fueled enthusiasts for cold weaponry. Then, these groups of steel girls began their own dazzling dance of war.
"Iazriazer! Aaatar! Counterattack!"
When the Armored Scorpions landed in the city and comnced their offensive, another cry filled with courage reverberated through the ancient streets now occupied by monsters. The Atlantian Warriors had finally received the command to counterattack. Under the leadership of the War God Ares and other war leaders, these superhumans, created in ancient tis to combat the Imperial Rebel Army, were no longer satisfied with being on the defensive for an extended period. Now they erged from their hiding places and dwellings, swarming forth with ancient weapons—the knowledge of whose technology had been lost—and threw themselves into the fight to reclaim their city.
Lightning, flas, cold winds, beams of light, and even brute strength that could rival the Imperial Soldiers in fist fights—these Ancient People fought using a myriad of strange thods. Their various abilities, whether categorized as superpowers or genetic enhancents, allowed them to explode with combat strength on par with the Elite Imperial Soldiers. Despite their relative physical vulnerability and the critical limitation of their numbers, which made it impossible for them to confront the true Imperial Army, their power was more than sufficient to fight the common Abyss Monsters.
I opened the force field that suppressed the Abyss Energy, using my own spiritual power to dispel the infiltrating Abyss Mist in the streets on a large scale—this was to prevent more Atlantian Warriors from being infected during battle.
This thin layer of mist appeared harmless and didn’t even register on conventional equipnt, effectively nonexistent by those definitions. It belonged to neither matter nor contained energy. Beyond a gauzy visual effect, there was no way to detect its presence in the material world. However, its potential danger was not to be underestimated. Although Sandora told that this mist wasn’t the actual embodint of Abyss Energy, it still harbored an irresistible contaminating ability against ordinary lifeforms. Even the powerful Atlantian Warriors would beco delirious, even mad, if exposed to the mist for more than two hours, and for ordinary humans, entering it ant no chance of salvation after just one minute.
But to Sandora’s and my ntal resistance, this thing was nothing more than a mild nuisance.
"Such a tasteless way of fighting."
A Magic Girl—or rather, Raven—flew to our side from the rear. This Raven 001, who took over as temporary commander when Silvia was in her foolish state, raised an Arcane Shield to fend off the surrounding attacks, and criticized the combat occurring in the heart of the fray, pointing out the habits of the Scorpion Soldiers who were accustod to overwhelming their opponents with close-quarters combat, and she did not hold back her sharp tongue.
"Look at this—brutal, barbaric, their entire bodies lethal weapons, drenching their equipnt and hands with blood... Ah, a true warrior should learn to annihilate their enemies gracefully. Inside the Armored Scorpions’ minds must surely be high-powered reactors; they think with high-energy fuel... piu!"
A squealing Lightning Ball was casually tossed out by this acerbic Raven 001. At first glance, it looked no different from a Junior Mage’s spell, but... the ferocious thing obliterated a half-human, half-beast monster before exploding into a spread of Nebula Lightning that covered half a block, proving it was anything but a junior-level spell.
"Number one! What are you doing! My tail’s conductive!"
An Armored Scorpion, barely missed by the Nebula Lightning and frantically waving her long blade, shouted over with her tail flicking back and forth. Although an electric shock was trivial for an Armored Scorpion, the sensation of being shocked by a comrade was not pleasant—it was a matter of face now.
"Sorry, sorry, my aim was off!" Raven 001, as always, appeased her not-so-bright Scorpion Sisters with a casual excuse. After being taken seriously and allowed to continue their fight, she then repeated softly to herself, "Tch, my aim was off."
You see, that’s the wonder of language arts.
Raven 001 was one of the junior commanders I was relatively familiar with, but unlike Vega, the heroic combat soldier commander, Raven 001 was just a "substitute." Other than an early serial number, her strength was not much different from that of a regular raven, and she only took on the role because the true commander of Raven Corps was perennially scatterbrained. Still, despite being a substitute, her talent and adaptability on the battlefield truly rited the authority she held, except... when she was with the scorpions, her mouth didn’t quite behave.
It’s said that each Raven is created by cloning from a small fragnt of Silvia’s soul, but I think this 001 must have been copied from Bellavilla: such a vicious mouth.
"Where are those bees?"
I looked around the fierce battleground but could only see the activity of the Armored Scorpions and the Ravens; the Leader Bees, who were supposed to enter the battlefield with them, were nowhere in sight—though the battle report had ntioned they were out too.
"If you’re looking for Ola, who always lurks mysteriously at the dormitory—" Raven 001 pointed to a Raven nearby who was using an Arcane Arrow Rain to block an enemy counterattack, "that’s her."
I was taken aback, but soon 001’s words were confird: after completing a round of attacks, ripples like flowing water suddenly appeared on the seemingly average Raven. A shell similar to but perhaps more advanced than camouflage slipped off her like rcury, revealing the disguise underneath—a silver-white alloy armor and trademark long hair, trailing down to her ankles. The Elental Balls that had initially floated beside this Raven then tamorphosed into the Leader Bee’s unique Crystal-Alloy Combat Blade Cannons.
An Abyss Monster shrouded in black smoke had been contesting Ola, and when the latter underwent the transformation, the monster was taken aback but, in the next second, the destructive instinct in its soul kicked in, compelling it to resu its previous onslaught. The monster quickly condensed two dark red Energy Light Balls in its hands, indicating that before it was turned into a monster, it must have been an Atlantean Superpower Soldier adept at energy attacks. Having prepared for the attack in a flash, the monster hurled these formidable, unpredictable energy groups toward Ola. When they collided with the Leader Bee’s Ghost Energy Shield, they erupted into a massive explosion, and a thick smoke montarily enveloped Ola. However, within the next second, five swift Blade Cannons burst forth from the smoke, cutting the immobile monster to shreds with short-distance Space Jumps, leaving it heavily injured; another Blade Cannon phased behind the convulsing creature and executed a close-range headshot, turning the head—twisted beyond recognition by the Abyss’s contamination—into a cloud of gas with a high-powered shot.
"Combat Mimicry, one of the Leader Bee’s crystal abilities," Sandora said as she used her power to help allies on the battlefield maintain their sanity in the face of the Abyss Aura (which might not be of much help to the Xyrin Warriors, but was desperately needed by the Atlantean Warriors who were trying to break through the monster blockade). All the while, she casually explained the situation to , "They can use their Crystal Power to ’clone’ the ’information’ of any unit on the battlefield, thus gaining so of the target’s power boosts, like turning into a Raven, an Armored Scorpion, or even a space heavy cannon. Although even the strongest Leader Bee can only replicate a portion of the target’s power, this at least sowhat compensates for their own combat deficiencies. The only regret is that this ability has distance and ti limitations; moving too far from the clone or over ti leads to the mimicry ending."
"I didn’t know Ola had such a talent," I remarked with interest, looking around and indeed spotting many Leader Bees in mimicry; they had disguised themselves as Armored Scorpions, Ravens, and even an exceptionally powerful Abyss Monster, effortlessly resolving their troubles on the chaotic battlefield, "The more types of units around, the more tactical options the Leader Bees have. In theory, they can use countless thods to adjust their situation."
"The greater the level of mixed-unit composition, the greater the value of the Leader Bee. They can also create Mirror Soldiers with a certain amount of the original’s power for a short ti based on allied units, or use crystal links to share damage and stack up power among allied soldiers. Don’t think that their own combat strength is always problematic; the Leader Bee, as one of the three hero units, is definitely not to be underestimated—speaking of which, Ah Jun, I’m getting a bit hungry."
Well, apart from that last sentence, Sandora’s explanation was quite spot-on.
A true jack-of-all-trades, a mobile tactical tower that could massively increase an army’s combat effectiveness in local conflicts, a frontline hero soldier with infinite possibilities—this was the battlefield positioning of a Leader Bee. Unlike the unmatched offensive capabilities of the Armored Scorpion, or the Ravens who effortlessly delivered widespread destructive strikes, the Leader Bees’ role was to control the field.
In local battlefields where the mighty Storm Commander couldn’t attend, the value of a single Leader Bee was truly unimaginable.
"Uh-oh, it looks like this battle won’t need Pandora and her crew to step in."
Looking at the rapidly dwindling number of enemies around us, I shrugged my shoulders and said to Sandora, "The combined crushing power of the three great heroic soldier types is already beyond the norm."
"This is just the cannon fodder gathered here. The main forces haven’t taken the field yet."
Sandora shook her head, "Haven’t you noticed that most of the enemies we’ve encountered are ordinary monsters with little combat skill? Most of them are likely civilians from Atlantis who have mutated. The Divine Servants and the Divine Chosen Ones must have been held up in other districts."
"Boom boom boom!!"
A series of explosions sounded from around the corner of the distant market, and large swathes of Abyss Monsters were blown away, their formation thrown into complete disarray. A small squad of Armored Scorpions, having just dealt with the enemies in front of them, imdiately charged without hesitation toward the new battlefront with sonic charges and thousandfold intersection slashes, chopping the dazed enemies into a bloody rain. Following that, so familiar shouts ca from the other end of the battleground:
"Cilin Naziadar! Atalendisi!! Attack! The enemy’s defenses have already collapsed! Attack! Join with our lord!"
That Ares with his door-board sword, his voice is unmistakably loud no matter where he is.
The Armored Scorpion Squad in front imdiately obeyed the commands to et up with the Atlantis Warriors who had just broken through to this position. Amidst the swooping leaps of these aloof reapers wielding Ship-Slicing Blades, hordes of charging Abyss Monsters often didn’t even have the chance to react before being slashed into a sky full of fragnts. The spatial cutting phenonon produced by the Phase Shift Blade edges could slice open even the decks of Imperial Standard Battleships, let alone those bodies that had rely been enhanced a bit. Soon, a wide enough passageway was carved out between the two positions, and the warriors from both sides completed their reunion.
Hundreds of Giant Warriors clad in ancient armor or strange war robes broke through the smoke-filled battlefield and arrived before Sandora and , reeking of blood. Leading them was a familiar figure.
"War God," Ares.
"My lord, we have held the defense line, please guide us!"
The Giant Warriors in heavy armor prostrated themselves on the ground, one by one, as Ares’s voice, slightly hoarse from continuous battle, resounded unwaveringly.
Looking at the "Artificial Gods" before , these super soldiers created by the Ancient Empire were so tall and strong. Ares, at over two and a half ters tall, was not at all outstanding among them. To my surprise, I found that all Atlantians had heights at this level, and so even exceeded three ters. When they donned their heavy armor, they truly resembled the giants of myth and legend. No wonder the varying myths handed down on Earth invariably depict the descending gods as towering "giants." It must be the exaggerated tales born from the last surviving Atlantians being revered and worshipped as gods by the succeeding generations of primitive humans.
Regardless, I was relieved that Pandora hadn’t co along. If she saw so many individuals here twice her height zealously boxing, there’s no telling if she might just toss around Space Internal Explosion Bombs in the na of annihilating the enemy. That girl, who had been harboring grievance over her own height of barely over a ter for thousands of years to the point of obsession, could pose a threat to the life of every one of these Atlantian Warriors towering over her, twice her height, before she even accepted them...(To be continued. If you like this work, I welco you to vote for it with recomndation tickets and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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