Xyrin Empire-Chapter 709 Anubis

The battle within Atlantis City had by now nearly reached its conclusion. Even with a large number of monsters, whose combat power was on par with the Imperial Regular Army, the empire’s most elite ground forces needed only little effort to occupy this ancient city. As we progressively advanced, one by one, key functional buildings were reactivated by the Xyrin Host operating from behind the lines. The gloom over the ancient city swiftly dissipated at a visible rate, and perhaps, before long, the Abyss Energy entrenched here would be dispelled by the city’s purification devices.

The ground troops that entered the inner city area with us had divided into several teams, heading towards key buildings as directed by Ares. Sandora and I each led a squad to activate two defense system control centers, with Bingdisi accompanying Sandora. The remaining two goofballs of the Divine Race five-person team were handed over to me—prior to this, Lin and Yelsen "cooperated in combat" to break into the inner city area and had yet to rejoin us. The former’s intelligence had decreased to the point of not knowing how to contact the main body of troops, while the latter, presumably, was still knocked out.

Yet, given the physique of the two from the Star Domain Divine Race, I believed they were still energetically hopping around.

Along the way, we encountered several more attacks from Valkyrie warriors, but with the Armored Scorpions accustomed to handling them from previous experiences, the Valkyrie’s ambushes didn’t significantly hinder the soldiers’ advance. Furthermore, with the assistance of Atlantis Divine Servants, who were familiar with Valkyrie combat tactics, and Fantasy Country forces like Shi Liu Ye with exceptional skills, the operation proceeded relatively smoothly.

However, the air here was filled with a nauseating chaos. The warriors could not rashly advance swiftly. Moreover, they had to be prepared at any moment for enemies to suddenly jump out from who knows where. Hence, the overall progress of the formation was somewhat unsatisfactory.

Detection Magic from Raven and life detectors from Leader Bee weren’t very effective against units like the Valkyries, which had no life responses and possessed invisibility ambush gear similar to the Imperial Agents. We could only detect them when they launched an attack, which was truly unfortunate. What’s worse, they could continuously resurrect; the Valkyrie factories were in the most heavily defended areas of the inner city. Before the team advanced to that location, we would indeed be troubled.

"What are you thinking about?" Shi Liu Ye, seeing that I hadn’t spoken for a while, finally couldn’t help but ask. In front of strangers, this Maid Chief appeared genteel and well-mannered. Although for some reason, I always felt she was somewhat aloof to outsiders, she generally gave off a reliable impression as a servant. I just wondered what would happen if she met Anwina...

"Regarding your arrangements, if the houses are destroyed by too many demons [monsters], you could first stay in the Imperial Capital. It will take some time to purify the radiation at Demon Mountain," I spoke my thoughts casually. "Additionally, I’ve invited the residents of the Red Demon Mansion to visit Shadow City. There’s someone there who can also control time, and another person who constantly aims to be the foremost maid of the world. Perhaps you’ll find you have a lot in common."

Shi Liu Ye looked at me, her eyes filled with a puzzled expression, but she still politely smiled, "That would be for the best. Perhaps Miss can also feel more at ease. You are very approachable and do not have that lofty air I initially imagined."

Oh, should I be touched? This wasn’t a ’Good Person Card’ but rather... a passerby card? What’s with this troublesome feeling of relief?

"Squeak, crack..."

A burst of snapping sounds, origins unknown, suddenly interrupted the conversation between Shi Liu Ye and me. I followed the noise and discovered blue-black electrical sparks abnormally condensing in the air above the stone square a hundred meters away. It was a phenomenon resembling peak discharge, yet no source of the discharge was visible. Just as I was about to ask the Atlantis warriors beside me what was happening, they had already turned serious, tightly gripping their Lightning Spears and whispered, "Anubis has arrived! They will jump through lightning!"

No sooner had the words left their mouth than a series of dense lightning roars violently erupted. Dozens of blue-black lightning bolts struck the nearby stone square from a hundred meters in the air. Each lightning bolt exploded into a bright flare upon impact, and instantly a tall wolf-headed human-bodied warrior materialized.

These alien warriors, arriving on the battlefield through lightning, were exceptionally tall—not as exaggerated as Hades’ twelve meters, but still a substantial five meters. Their skin was dark, their muscles glossed with an obsidian-like sheen, bare-chested, and wearing white Atlantis short battle skirts. They had human bodies but wolf-like heads. Dark red runes glowed on their bare upper bodies, and around their necks were heavy rings with distinct Imperial technological styles, edged with dark energy grids, indicating that these warriors named Anubis, like the Valkyries before them, were formidable units fighting with real Ghost Energy instead of Superpower.

The weapons of Anubis were black scepters matching their height, with the top shaped like venomous snakes. According to what Ares had mentioned previously, these weapons should be referred to as "Dusk Scepters"—four to five meters long, half a ton heavy metal scepters, truly good companions for killing, looting, smashing, and burning!

After completing the space transmission, the Anubis warriors immediately launched an attack, swinging their pitch-black staffs at us. Instantly, countless branching, blinding lightning bolts erupted from those oversized magic wands, covering the entire squad and the surrounding hundreds of meters. In an instant, I realized—this was a complete imitation of Raven’s forked lightning!

...Well, there are quite a few in this world capable of forked lightning, but I believe Ravens, who learned to use forked lightning for cooking meat millions of years ago, definitely have the right to claim they are among the founders of this magic.

"Boom, boom!"

A continuous explosion sounded mid-air as the Ravens in the squad timely launched a counterattack. Without seeing them use any magic, the lightning from Anubis collided and extinguished each other mid-flight. This was Silvia’s, or rather Bellavilla’s, best technique—Elemental Interference, superbly effective against single-element attacks but demanding such a high physical requirement from the user that it could only be used once in a short period.

However, this single successful interference was enough. The highly skilled Ravens organized an effective offensive in an instant. They first placed a quick Arcane Shield above their own lines. Then, three Ravens maintained the shield inside while the rest unleashed full firepower. Instantly, a barrage of magic attacks stormed towards the Anubis line, including lightning, fireballs, ice arrows, arcane bombs, slippers, teddy bears—anything at hand, as two Ravens, too excited to finally see magic-wielding opponents, mistakenly threw out items from their personal space.

Armored Scorpions also drew their long swords. After the Ravens unleashed their magic, taking advantage of the bright flares for cover, these swift slashers, sticking close to the various magical light orbs, rushed at lightning speed to Anubis’s forefront. This way, even if the latter could miraculously survive the first round of magic attacks, they’d definitely not remain unscathed under the Armored Scorpions’ assault.

This move alone demonstrated that although the Armored Scorpions and Ravens often bickered, when it came down to fighting, their cooperation was as close as sisters. The Armored Scorpions precisely matched the flying speed of the Ravens’ magic, while the Ravens skillfully controlled those powerful arcane fireballs and white-hot lights, delaying their energy release. Could it be possible without hundreds of scorched semi-cooked scorpions or battered Ravens?

...Well, perhaps this was just their cooperative skill honed through fighting.

"Crack-Crack—Crack-Crack," the continuous sounds of lightning struck again. The Anubises seemed to sense the extraordinary power of the magic storm in front of them, raised their scepters with both hands, and slammed them into the ground. Then, along with the descending lightning, they disappeared on the spot, and in an instant, appeared all around us. The Armored Scorpions and the magic light orbs lost their targets, the former quickly turned back to chase the enemy who had teleported away, while the latter turned the stone plaza into a melting mess.

"The lightning transport of Anubis can be unleashed indefinitely, and they dodge most of the long-range attacks instinctively," the Atlantian warrior beside me quickly said, raising his lightning spear, which emitted a bolt, forcing an Anubis who had teleported near our position to once again use lightning transport to flee, "This skill makes them very difficult to handle."

"The Valkyries, capable of full-spectrum invisible raids, and Anubis, capable of short-range teleporting magic attacks, it seems the original scientific expedition team was really pushed to the brink," I said, somewhat astonished, "Ravens, stop playing around! Finish off these undying fellows quickly, the control center is just ahead!"

Spurred by the commander’s cry, the Ravens who were enjoying themselves creating chains of lightning finally got serious. Raven 001 retracted the arcane cores floating beside him and then raised his right hand high: "Charging Cloud."

This was a spell that required cooperative casting, and the more participants, the greater the power. After Raven 001 manifested guiding rune chains in his hand, the dozen or so Ravens around him also started casting. Dense clouds, eerily appearing out of nowhere in the high sky like a switch of camera lenses, engulfed the already gloomy inner city with almost night-like darkness. The "rumble rumble" of thunder that emanated from these clouds sent chills down one’s spine, and the Ravens who were not involved in the synergistic spell immediately strengthened the arcane shields on their positions to guard against their commander’s reckless attacks damaging themselves.

One Anubis, unfazed by the high-energy response above, instead raised his Dusk Scepter high. Holding a four-meter-long iron rod in his five-meter-tall giant hands was imposing enough, and with a loud "crack," clouds of dust — Dingdang was up in the—the clouds of dust everywhere! Anubis’s body, made of a black hardened crystal, which I estimated to be the same material used for warship windows, had somehow been turned into dust by lightning; Raven 001, are you sure that was even lightning?

Moreover, what was astonishing was that after a mighty thunderbolt, besides the unlucky Anubis, there was no collateral damage. Not even a black mark was left on the ground under the enemy’s feet. The power of that "lightning" had been injected entirely into the enemy’s body, precisely turning it into ashes with no residue left. What kind of vicious magical control must that be? Ravens were all LV6, right?

Not sure if it’s because their brains weren’t enough or what, but the death of the first Anubis did not serve as a warning to the others. More wolf-headed "gods" raised their scepters intending to attack us, resulting in the plaza thundering non-stop, dozens of lightning rods satisfying the voracious Charging Cloud. The Atlantis Warrior had said that Anubis could dodge most long-range attacks by instinct, but apparently lightning, traveling at the speed of light, wasn’t something they could dodge. After a few dozen dazzling blue-white thunderbolt strikes, nothing was left on the plaza except for piles of smoking ash.

"Holding a big iron rod in a thunderstorm, don’t they know it conducts electricity, a bunch of idiots."

Raven 001 had made a mark, and started to spit venomous words from her mouth, but I very much agreed with her assessment. However, on second thought, even the strongest lightning couldn’t possibly kill an Anubis made out of warship crystallized shell, right? These unlucky kids died a really wrongful death.

As the casting stopped, the charging clouds in the sky dissipated and specks of light rose up from the square. Anubis, which had been reduced to ash, was now being reclaimed in a similar manner to the dismembered Valkyrie by some mysterious technology. Clearly, in a few hours, it would be as though a group of men struck by lightning had come to life again. Even Raven 001 let out a long sigh, "Well, kill them and they resurrect, might as well fight those scorpions instead."

Vega was not here, for if she were, Raven 001 would probably have received a good lump on the head for his loose tongue.

"Let’s hurry and find their regeneration factory and regain control of these warriors," I sighed and took the lead, "These are heroes who sacrificed their lives for the Empire years ago; they shouldn’t be appearing on such battlefields at this time."

After eliminating the wandering Anubis, we advanced with heightened caution. It turned out that these ultimate forces from Atlantis, once used to combat the chaotic armies of Visca, were not easily defeated even when faced with the Empire’s Heroic Combat Soldiers. Their special combat methods and targeted tactics could pose a sudden significant threat. The group encountered was only a few dozen Anubis; their attack wasn’t enough to instantly decimate our whole squad, but had there been an equal number of enemies ambushing us, perhaps even the Raven and Armored Scorpion would have suffered casualties, making our victory not so effortless. The accompanying Atlantis Warriors were aware of the dreaded power of Anubis and Valkyrie from the start, maintaining a high level of vigilance. However, the demons from Fantasy Country only became genuinely tense now. Up until now, they had Raven, Armored Scorpion, and Bees to handle everything, and since enemies like the Valkyrie had no long-range capabilities, they merely needed to throw barrages from under tight protection; thus, they never felt much urgency. Some even snacked while walking—Youyouzi, I’m talking about you! Stop nibbling on Yao Meng’s companion spirit! But after Anubis, capable of unlimited instant teleportation and long-range attacks, appeared, these clumsy girls finally felt fear.

It might have been intentional or not, but an Armored Scorpion "accidentally" reacted a bit slowly, allowing an Anubis to teleport right next to Yao Meng. His giant foot almost truly squashed Yao Meng into a pancake-dream.

After occupying the last small temple en route and successfully repairing various physically offline devices within, the control of the Xyrin Host finally extended effectively within the inner city area. Although we still couldn’t restart the inner city’s Ghost Energy Pipeline, at least the streets’ dark gray fog dimmed considerably. Anubis and Valkyrie’s movements also seemed reduced, possibly influenced by the receding Abyss, allowing us to proceed smoothly, reaching our final destination half an hour later: Twin Temple - Daylight Temple.

Strictly speaking, this was one of the two "real" temples in Atlantis City.

There were countless temples and shrines of various sizes throughout this city, residences of Atlantis leaders like Zeus and Poseidon, which I referred to as temples merely out of my own habit; the people of Atlantis themselves dared not call them that.

For the Atlantians, even their most revered leaders were never exalted to the heights of "Gods." Ares, along with other gods who hold a place on Mount Olympus, refer themselves as Divine Servants, believing they were born under the power of the "Great God" (undoubtedly referring to the Xyrin Apostle). They deemed the only true divine beings in the world to be the "Great God," viewing themselves, the powerful ones, as merely servants created by the Great God. Therefore, strictly speaking, temples like Zeus Hall and Poseidon Hall in this city are not really temples. The only temples the people of Atlantis dare acknowledge are the Twin Temples.

Legend has it that centuries ago - well, probably around hundreds of thousands of years ago - two High-level Apostles came to Atlantis with a group of scientists for ecological research. Based on fragmented, mystical descriptions from Ares, Hades, and others, I deduced that these so-called Great Gods were actually two Xyrin Hosts, a level below Bubbles (thus, not directly serving the Emperor but belonging to the research team of a Sky District General). They led the initial research and built their Mother Nests where Atlantis City was first established. These two Mother Nests epitomized Atlantis civilization, which never dared to alter these "God’s constru

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶