Xyrin Empire
Chapter 481: Little Baobao VS Heroic King?

Chapter 481: Chapter 481: Little Baobao VS Heroic King?

The dazzling fireball that suddenly appeared in the sky and rapidly approached undoubtedly caught the attention of the blonde girl, who seemed to be the Heroic King but looked more like a spoiled young girl. Anyone with an IQ over double digits would surely sense its formidable power. No normal person would foolishly stand still and wait to be smashed.

Moreover, the strange girl below certainly had a chance to dodge. The landing capsule, supported by the Empire’s technology, had been jettisoned from a battlecruiser in geostationary orbit (of course, thanks to the invisibility technology provided by the Empire, the human warships of the New Eden Federation were all equipped with the ability to remain undetected by humans) under standard procedures, unlike our landing capsule which couldn’t decelerate because of the spatial turbulence. Thus, the super alloy block that had entered the normal deceleration program had definitely given those below ample time to evade.

That’s why I quickly grabbed Tohsaka Rin and Red A, who were reflexively about to bolt, because a landing capsule that had decelerated wouldn’t impact us at this distance.

But why was a strange girl standing exactly at the landing point, her cheeks already flushed red from the landing capsule’s rear engines, and the normal landing alert’s red circle visible beneath her feet, still standing stupidly in place without moving?

Run, you idiot!

"Hmph! Although I don’t know what that is, it looks powerful, but such an inexplicable entity cannot challenge the dignity of the King!!"

With a confident tone, the girl who claimed to be the King caused a ripple in the space around her and then conjured a peculiar shield out of thin air.

A shield resembling the overlapping petals of seven flowers, named the Unconquered Shield of Blazing Sky Covering Seven Circles, it was said that each petal-like layer boasted defensive power that could rival ancient city walls. In legends, it even once withstood the long spear thrown by the great hero, Hector. Perhaps due to a kind of idol effect, it had even reached the concept layer of completely resisting any projectile weapons. Taking out such a shield at this time, the intentions of the girl who claimed to be the King were easy to guess.

Was that girl an idiot? She definitely wasn’t the real Golden Shining, right? The one in front, holding a shield, planning to withstand the landing capsule, must be some brainless fool from who knows which dimension that had mixed up Gilgamesh through a crossover, right?

Even Tohsaka Rin beside me was left slack-jawed, and after a long time, she blurted out, "Was that child already hit by a spaceship once before?"

While we were wondering if the short girl, looking like the Heroic King and holding the petal shield, had already been hit by the nth Angel Envoy earlier, the rapidly descending landing capsule had entered the final stage of landing. About a kilometer above ground, it completed the final attitude adjustment, and the previously slightly tilted conical cabin switched to the standard vertical orientation, followed by a rapid descent. Within a few seconds, it was directly above the girl’s head. Then, a comedic scene ensued.

The landing capsule of the New Eden Federation was designed for the human Marines, taking into account the human body’s frailty. The capsule would engage in a full-powered oscillation deceleration before touching ground, using a powerful jet from the rear engines to drastically reduce the speed of the capsule to 10 meters per second, gradually coming to a stop, and then completing the final ten or so meters of descent at an extremely slow pace. Therefore, the little girl who had been intently holding the shield waiting for the impact was unsurprisingly completely enveloped by the sudden burst of a massive tail flame tens of meters long, not even managing to let out a cry of surprise.

Meanwhile, the landing capsule continued its leisurely descent in mid-air, as if it were patiently barbecuing some unidentified creature below.

We bystanders were all stunned. How incredibly foolish does one have to be to get roasted like that?

With a whoosh, a figure still emitting flames suddenly shot out of the tail flame of the landing capsule. The foolish girl finally abandoned her so-called "pride of the king" and decisively threw away the shield in her hands, which had become too hot to hold, then ran out smoldering all over. Unfortunately, by the time she had put out the flames on her body, she had already completely turned into a blackened piece of charcoal.

"Cough, cough... cough..." Bent over, the charred figure was coughing violently, spewing black smoke with each cough. That she wasn’t harmed by such high temperatures, should one say she was indeed worthy of being a Heroic Spirit?

"Darn it... Wretched commoners! Vermin! How dare you... cough cough... dare to humiliate me like this!" The girl cursed angrily, her little face growing more splotchy as she smeared it, "Even death cannot... cough cough... pardon your sins... cough cough..."

The hissing sound of the safety latches releasing interrupted a certain "king’s" curses. The landing pod, following standard procedures, opened, and with the disposable armor clanging to the ground, a tiny white figure leaped out, promptly falling on its buttocks.

How can this child be such a simpleton?

Having cushioned Little Baobao’s fall with an air mattress conjured from energy at the last second, Sandora and I couldn’t help but laugh uproariously from within our Invisibility Field. This must be what parents feel when they sneak a peek at their children’s adorable antics from around corners. Although the premises were sad, this moment was simply hilarious.

After tumbling without the expected feeling of hitting the ground, Little Baobao immediately stood up curiously, muttering to herself and looking around, her familiar sense of spiritual power making her very concerned. Following Little Baobao’s actions, an inconspicuous Little One popped up above her head, much like a special forces operative emerging from the "jungle" to scout for enemies. Dingdang crawled out of Little Baobao’s hair and also copied her, shading her eyes with her hand and scanning the surroundings.

Sandora and I exchanged glances: how did these two treasures end up together, with Little Baobao, who had mistaken Dingdang for food countless times, shouldn’t she be the natural predator?

And what’s with your look now, Dingdang? Is this a brand new Fusion Form you’ve developed with Little Baobao? The legendary ’I shall form the head’?

Just as I was contemplating whether to drop the Invisibility Field and go out to pat and feed the two little ones, a voice, filled with resentment from being completely ignored, suddenly erupted, "Hey! You lowlifes over there! Are you mocking me with such foolish actions?"

Isn’t it because you blended so completely into the darkness with your all-encompassing blackness? Miss Natural Black Camouflage Emperor.

"Uhuhuh?" Little Baobao uttered a series of confused sounds, unable to grasp the black humanoid figure with only a pair of white eyes visible not far away, while Dingdang on her head immediately exclaimed, "Wow! The people in this world are so dark!"

Miss Tohsaka almost fell to the ground laughing.

"Damn it! Cursed commoners! You will pay for your disrespectful words and actions!"

First, she was inexplicably greeted by a giant fireball that fell from the sky, then she was roasted into charcoal for failing to defend herself, and to add insult to injury, her black camouflage was ignored, leading to a strange comment on her skin color by an apparent pet creature. The proud young girl was beside herself with rage, shouting angrily as her finger swiftly traced a line through the air, causing a series of space-time ripples to emerge behind her.

"Is that..."

Next to me, Tohsaka Rin gasped in shock, and even Archer immediately tightened his grip on his black and white dual swords. The objects that were emerging from the air were shocking, far beyond the comprehension of most magicians.

Knives, swords, guns, axes, hooked halberds, crossbows—all the weapons that appeared from the fluctuating space, and even more astonishing was the surge of magic power from these weapons, coupled with an unmistakable mystique.

Treasures! They were all Treasures!

To a Heroic Spirit, the meaning of a Noble Phantasm was undoubtedly significant. They often accompanied a Heroic Spirit’s accomplishments throughout their life and, to some extent, even represented the Heroic Spirit’s very purpose. Noble Phantasms were miracles wrapped in layers of mystique, far surpassing any ordinary weapon. They were crystallizations of humanity’s prayers for miracles. Typically, a Heroic Spirit would possess only one Noble Phantasm in their lifetime, which could serve as their strongest armament, even their killing blow. However, the girl before me had casually summoned an array of Noble Phantasms that could practically be used to hold an exhibition!

If Qianqian were here, she would have gone up and robbed her without a second thought, then tied up the girl with ribbons and sold her to the Chinese Academy of Sciences to make money.

While Tohsaka Yin was shocked by the array of Noble Phantasms, I also felt something strange.

Referring to oneself as "this king" and summoning an endless array of Noble Phantasms, it certainly looked like Gilgamesh, the Golden Shining one, but why did I always feel such a huge sense of incongruity from her?

This incongruity wasn’t because the typically handsome Gilgamesh had transformed into a petite girl, nor was it due to the other party’s ostensibly foolish mind, even though these two points were already ripe for tearful derision. However, they were not incongruous enough.

What I found odd was the occasional habits she exhibited, such as her catchphrase "mongrel." If my pitiful memory hadn’t declined, Gilgamesh’s preferred term should be "mongrel."... Well, being hung up on this issue just shows how foolish I am. At least it proves that the girl in front of me is not exactly like Gilgamesh in character. The second point lies in the exhibition of Noble Phantasms she summoned.

The Heroic King Gilgamesh had a penchant for collecting treasures throughout his life, claiming the legendary arms of heroes as his own. But most of what he collected tended to be swords, which may be linked to personal preference. However, in the exhibition before us, half of the Noble Phantasms consisted of scepters and oddly-shaped items, the purposes of which were unclear.

Could it be that Gilgamesh, after an unfortunate transformation, had eventually succumbed to the mental pressure and taken to the irreversible path of scavenging through rubbish?

"Ha ha! Scared stiff, are you, mongrel?" The girl’s arrogant laughter snapped me out of my reverie. It turned out that Miss Natural Black Camouflage, upon seeing the girl who had "fooled" her motionless, thought she had frightened her with the display of Noble Phantasms, "But now, you no longer have the chance to beg for mercy! Having offended my royal dignity, dying under such a treasure baptism is also your honor... Hey! Are you listening to me?"

It seemed that the nameless girl had been talking to herself for a while, and Little Baobao, the one supposedly threatened, had no reaction at all. She just stared dumbfounded at the splendid Noble Phantasms floating in mid-air, her eyes gleaming with the reflection of the treasures. The little loli’s mouth was slightly open, gently biting her index finger, her face alight with longing and excitement.

For the... I’ve lost count how many times... to be ignored like this!

"Pay the price, you damned mongrel!"

After that final roar, the dark King’s Girl finally reached her limit of patience. She raised her right hand high and then swung it down with force.

Countless legendary arms, in this one swing, turned into a dazzling stream of light. This was a deluge formed by Noble Phantasms, and only one person could afford to use those epoch-making great weapons in such a wasteful manner, casting them as expendable in an instant. Just like that, the little girl, whose head was adorned by a nameless pet, was completely engulfed by the storm.

"Oh no, that child..." Tohsaka murmured in alarm, ready to rush out to help, but I stopped her with a tug. Facing her puzzled look, I just shook my head with a wry smile, "The unlucky one is the other party."

That’s right; I wasn’t worried about Little Baobao’s safety at all. The Xyrin Host-level Ghost Energy Shield might be formidable, but what was most important was that the hairpin Little Baobao wore on her head was a genuine Goddess. I refused to believe that, with Dingdang’s abilities, she would fear a mere Heroic Spirit—and merely an avatar at that?

Sure enough, after Little Baobao was shrouded in the golden torrent, the sounds that came were not of the little girl’s panic or pain; instead, there were bursts of extreme joy and cheer.

From this angle, we could clearly see that Little Bubbles had absolutely no concept of dodging as she joyously pounced toward the rain of treasures, whose might probably wasn’t any less than a round of missile saturation bombing. The little girl stretched out her arms with force, and the space around her promptly rippled with layers upon layers. All of the incoming treasures, no matter their power, were swallowed by these ripples the moment they touched them, and those treasures which were farther away and had luckily escaped these swamp-like spatial fluctuations ended up stuck in the ground behind her. However, they still couldn’t escape the eagle-eyed gaze of Dingdang, who served as radar above Little Bubbles’ head. Under the meddling guidance of the Dou Ding Goddess, the jubilant little girl turned around and began pulling the gleaming swords and knives out of the ground with a heave-ho, each one disappearing into her small hands as she plucked it up.

Of course, Little Bubbles had no combat experience; she was merely collecting those shiny "good things" based on her own preferences. The personal space passageways of a newly-born Xyrin Host couldn’t possibly allow those high-energy aggregations to pass through without limit, especially when the silly girl turned her head to pull out the swords and knives stuck in the ground. About a third of the treasures became the ones that got away, slamming hard toward her unprotected back.

A dozen or so scepters and long spears of different shapes collided with a Ghost Energy Shield that suddenly appeared, sparking and clanging amidst a cascade of sparks.

Without surprise, Little Bubbles’ defense ability was indeed very strong.

The Xyrin Hosts weren’t adept at fighting, a trait determined by their function, but as the most central module of the entire Imperial Base, the Xyrin Hosts had to possess powerful self-preservation capabilities. On one hand, they relied on their resident defensive troops within their personal spaces for protection; on the other hand, they depended on their formidable Ghost Energy Shields. Supported by astonishing calculation abilities and a characteristic of no weapon consumption, not only was the strength of each Xyrin Host’s Ghost Energy Shield daunting, but it also essentially allowed for "independent calculation of the shield strength per square micrometer to improve defense against ranged attacks." In other words, despite being a little fellow with no combat experience, Little Bubbles’ defense was absolutely stronger than a typical Xyrin Commander!

"Mmmg~~ Grmbl!!"

After tossing the last scepter, which seemed to have been crafted from crystal, into her personal space, Little Bubbles finally turned around to look at the black humanoid creature that had "kindly given her lots of presents" just a moment ago. The little girl let out a series of cheerful calls, gesturing with her small hands, her big eyes filled with intense anticipation.

Sandora and I exchanged glances and then sighed while shaking our heads in despair, "It’s over; Little Bubbles’ secret switch has been flipped, and the two collecting fanatics have met their match."

At this moment, the proud girl who called herself a king was completely dumbfounded. The black humanoid creature stood stiffly there, only the occasional rotation of its enlarged white eyeballs indicated that it was still a breathing entity.

"How... how dare you... How dare you challenge me thus!" she shouted in anger, but her voice only caused Little Bubbles to tilt her head in curiosity. Then, the little one again spread her arms with a big happy smile on her face, waiting for the "kind black big sister to give her some more presents." This action directly caused Tohsaka Rin and Red A, who had already been stunned, to collapse thunderously.

What kind of excruciatingly awkward plot twist was this!

As a fellow Heroic Spirit, Red A probably couldn’t help but rush forward to knock out and drag away that embarrassingly foolish unknown girl. Truly, truly too humiliating!

"This humiliation... this humiliation..." The string of shocks nearly drove the strange Heroic Spirit girl mad, making even her speech stuttering, "I must not forgive... Wah!"

Turned out it was a little green figure that had suddenly crossed the spatial distance, rushing straight up to her nose, startling her.

Dingdang proudly hovered less than twenty centimeters in front of the Heroic Spirit girl, hands on hips and declared, "Hey! Dull mortal! Hurry up and bring out the rest of the shiny stuff! As the saying goes, this tree is planted by me, this road is made by me, if you want to pass... ahh... oops, bit my tongue. Anyway, Little Baobao wants shiny things, Dingdang wants candy! We need to raise funds for our activities~~"

It was over; Dingdang had finally been led astray by Lilina. Lady Goddess was now learning to rob people on the road!

(To be continued. For the sequel, please visit www.qidian.com. More Chapters are available to support the author and to support genuine reading!)