Chapter 59: High-Level Aberration
The flames in the giant pit ahead surged skyward. Through the fire, Su Xiao could vaguely see a structure at the bottom of the pit—the Imperial Palace. It was a marvel of architecture, remaining intact despite such heavy bombardment.
Su Xiao speculated that this was most likely due to the Abyss Force; otherwise, the palace would have long been blasted into dust.
Although the Imperial Palace wasn’t destroyed, as layer after layer of the underground palace was blown through, the scene beneath the Royal Capital gradually unfolded before Su Xiao’s eyes—a network of crisscrossing tunnels.
These tunnels were pitch black. Even the Solar Flame of Apollo couldn’t illuminate the scene within.
Crack, crack, crack~
A dense sound of bone friction emerged. A withered, fleshless claw reached out from one of the tunnels. This was a Parasite Warrior. Its eyes had degenerated, and its entire body was covered in horn-like patterns.
The monster leaped from the tunnel into the giant pit. The pores on its face exhaled cold air, and the antennae on its head twitched, sensing the life force around it.
“Hiss!”
The Parasite Warrior let out a roar. Following that roar, one highly aberrant Parasite Warrior after another surged out of the tunnels, like a swarm of ants pouring forth.
Bang.
A bullet struck the head of a highly aberrant Parasite Warrior. Its head snapped back, exposing gray-white flesh that writhed as the fist-sized hole in its skull healed.
The Parasite Warriors seen earlier had appearances very similar to humans, but these highly aberrant ones were more like subterranean creatures that had lived in lightless environments for years.
Whoosh—the highly aberrant Parasite Warrior vanished from its spot. It moved with a ghostly grace, dodging the dense barrage of bullets. It could even turn parts of its body into a semi-fluid state to evade attacks.
Pfft!
A claw tore across the neck of an Alliance soldier. The soldier clutched his throat with both hands, blood spurting from his fingertips as he collapsed to his knees.
The dense firepower barely suppressed the highly aberrant Parasite Warriors emerging from underground. They scurried back into the tunnels on all fours, growling threateningly from the darkness.
The reason Su Xiao hadn’t let Baha and Bubu Wang use too many Apollos earlier was precisely to wait for these things to show themselves.
Bubu Wang deserved the most credit for this. Yesterday, it had infiltrated the Royal Capital by blending into the environment and discovered the underground palace.
Bubu Wang explored layer by layer, avoiding a large number of ordinary Parasite Warriors, until it reached the darkness deep underground. Using its night vision, it saw the situation in the darkness and was so startled it nearly pissed itself. The tunnel walls as far as the eye could see were covered with highly aberrant Parasite Warriors.
One thing Su Xiao couldn’t understand was why Emperor Taiyatu hadn’t deployed these highly aberrant Parasite Warriors earlier.
Moreover, in the previous battles, the Parasite Warriors had only relied on numbers to clash head-on with their side, as if no one was commanding them. They charged out more out of instinctive bloodlust.
Thinking about this now was pointless. The key was to deal with the highly aberrant Parasite Warriors underground first.
Su Xiao told Bubu Wang and Baha not to conserve Apollos anymore and to throw them into all the tunnels.
Upon receiving Su Xiao’s message, Baha lowered its flight altitude, allowing Bubu Wang to throw the simplified versions of Apollo into the tunnels. Moments later.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground beneath Su Xiao’s feet trembled. Pillars of fire shot out from the tunnels ahead, a spectacular sight.
Within the Solar Flame in the tunnels, roars were incessant. A highly aberrant Parasite Warrior charged out of a tunnel filled with Solar Flame, but it didn’t get far before its skeleton scattered on the ground, then was burned to ashes by the Solar Flame.
A total of 239 simplified Apollos had been used in the bombardment, leaving only 26. Even so, roars and howls still came from deep within the tunnels.
The simplified Apollos weren’t even as powerful as ordinary Apollos. Against these highly tenacious, highly aberrant Parasite Warriors, the effect was decent, but because there were so many of them, even after all the simplified Apollos were thrown into the depths of the tunnels, they still hadn’t completely wiped out the highly aberrant Parasite Warriors.
This struck Su Xiao as incredible. Not because the enemy wasn’t dead, but because he wondered why Emperor Taiyatu hadn’t used this force.
If he had, the previous battle would have taken a different turn. Given the basic quality of the Alliance soldiers, even with the War Lord’s buffs, the outcome would have been uncertain.
“Damn it, they’re not all blown up yet.”
Baha lowered its flight altitude. The alloy exoskeleton on its back detached, and Bubu Wang jumped down.
“Boss, use that move?”
“Not for now.”
“Then…”
Baha cast a questioning glance. Su Xiao nodded. Seeing this, Baha grinned mischievously and flew up.
Su Xiao ordered the entire army to retreat in an alternating pattern, but the artillery bombardment couldn’t stop.
The main force scattered to the surrounding areas, while the artillery units retreated in turns, maintaining fire suppression on the giant pit to prevent the highly aberrant Parasite Warriors from breaking through the underground Solar Flame and charging out of the pit.
When the entire army had retreated, Baha, flying high in the sky, released its eagle claws. An Apollo fell. This was [Blazing Sun’s Wrath·Apollo]. Two remained, and Su Xiao planned to use one.
The ancient war beasts that the War Lord could summon were something Su Xiao wasn’t ready to use yet. The battle had reached a point where everything felt eerie.
The Blazing Sun’s Wrath·Apollo fell. Midway, it expanded into a scorching golden fireball, landing in one of the tunnels below. The sun had fallen.
The artillery fire ceased. The soldiers received orders to find cover.
Everything fell silent. That silence lasted less than a second.
Boom!!!
A golden fireball three kilometers in diameter appeared. The soil it touched melted like snow under a blazing sun, vaporizing from the intense heat.
Within the blinding Solar Flame, the Imperial Palace turned pitch black, its outer walls beginning to melt. Due to the explosive shockwave, the hundred-meter-tall palace lifted off the ground, slowly flipping in midair.
Baha watched the Imperial Palace and couldn’t help but want to laugh, because Emperor Taiyatu was still inside.
Compared to the flying palace, the soldiers’ eyes were fixed on the three-kilometer-diameter golden fireball, four-fifths of which was underground. Their expressions were somewhat dazed.
Major Gewei was also watching the golden fireball. The muscles on his face twitched. He thought of something: this thing exploding in enemy territory didn’t bother him—he could watch coldly. But if it exploded in Garman City or Yook City, what would happen?
After all, Su Xiao’s relationship with the Alliance’s high command was not good. The staggering number of Alliance soldier casualties had pushed both sides to the brink of a rift.
Major Gewei walked toward Su Xiao. He was a decisive man and asked directly:
“Mr. White Night, if… you were hostile to the Alliance’s high command, would you detonate this kind of ‘bomb’ in Garman City?”
When Major Gewei asked this, the iron-blooded man actually felt a hint of anticipation in his heart, hoping Su Xiao would give him an affirmative answer.
“Perhaps… not?”
Su Xiao turned his head to look at Major Gewei and smiled kindly.
Major Gewei said nothing more. He just pressed his right fist firmly against his chest. He genuinely respected Su Xiao as a commander, but he had once been an Alliance soldier and was now an Alliance colonel. He had sworn a blood oath under the Alliance’s banner. He was born in the Southern Alliance and was willing to die for it. That was his faith, his will.
When the Solar Flame in the giant pit dissipated, no more roars came from underground. The sun had purified the darkness.
Su Xiao looked at the distant Imperial Palace and walked toward it. Arriving before the half-buried palace, he stepped through the semi-melted main entrance. A group of veteran soldiers surrounded him as guards, keeping him at the center.
Passing through the scorched outer hall, Su Xiao stopped before a pair of double metal doors. He made a gesture, and several veteran soldiers beside him stepped forward to push them open.
Creak~
The slightly warped metal doors were pushed open, and a surge of black smoke billowed out.
Su Xiao observed the situation in the inner hall. On the throne at the far end, he saw a towering figure—that was Emperor Taiyatu.
“Kill him.”
As Su Xiao spoke, he lit a cigarette. One by one, veteran soldiers rushed past him on both sides, entering the inner hall and aiming their rifles at Emperor Taiyatu on the throne.
A one-on-one duel with Emperor Taiyatu? Impossible. If Emperor Taiyatu could even touch Su Xiao once, that would count as his victory.