Chapter 1752: Engine Problem
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The discussion of various countermeasures, postulating the variables in the upcoming battle, and the search for any hidden, previously unknown gaps in the defensive line took about the whole day.
During that process, they had completed the inspection of the Dark Abyss defense line, and checked the recently completed droid’s heavy bunker clusters, and also a communication session with the Nightwatchers in the prison before returning to the basilica’s lounge.
But even as they sat on the long dining table in the basilica, they were still discussing the coming war.
“No matter how we arrange this, there’s always something off,” Vivian said as she rested her forehead on her hand, “and truthfully, I did help out my friends to fend off the demon hunters back in the Mythological Era, and I too had joined in a few of the meetings during the latter part of that era, and none come close to the stress of the one today…”
When the well-informed Vivian had let out such a resigned lament, it was part of the course for the rest. Plus Hao Ren’s crew was not made out of warmongers or tactical geniuses. Sure they could hold their own in a fight, but asking them to draft a battle plan would be pushing it too far, and only Y’zaks would count as an expert here, but even he had not fought a war on such a scale during his prime…
But such a specialized area would, of course, need to have a specialist to handle it, and Hao Ren was ever glad that he had created a droid swarm, an automated army that could formulate its own tactics and battle plans with the firepower to back it up, and with an experienced commander like Salaman at helm, they would not be fighting blindly when the time comes.
“No matter how prepared we are, it never feels enough,” Rheia too had the same idea as Vivian, “Such is the fight against the Mad Lord. No matter when it starts, you’ll find it processing too fast… even at times I would have some negative thoughts, and that’s normal.”
“Now that the droids and the guardians are in position, with the bunkers and fortresses coming online one by one, what’s left is to arrange the protective duties of the surviving civilizations.” Hao Ren nodded as he turned towards Y’zaks. “I have already sent a message to the Einherjars and they can come over easily through the Scarred Nebula, and I’ll hand command of that army to you. You’re the most experienced of us all.”
Y’zaks pondered for a bit, “Hmm… I have no objections, but I don’t quite understand this army, I had commanded all sorts of warriors from various races in the past, but a ‘heroic spirit’ unit like the Einherjar is a first.”
“A Valkyrie will come along with the army, you can leave the commanding to her. You just need to tell her where the target is.” Hao Ren explained, “Plus I’ll open up all of the teleportation gates on all worlds, and all of you have access to it, that’ll help you in moving between planets.
Y’zaks then grinned. “Then I have no issues. To be honest… I never thought I will have another day in the field commanding an army and slaying foes, and I’ll be commanding a group of heroic spirits from another world… Heh, as a post-retirement entertainment, this sure is interesting.”
Nangong Sanba twiddled his thumb as he walked in circles. “Heh, a final battle, fighting off the enemy over a few planets plus an army of Einherjar at your command… Bugger me, that sounds so epic all of a sudden that I’m a little nervous now. Say after this is over and done with will the people on those planets build statues of us?”
Nangong Wuyue facepalmed, “Brother… that’s… embarrassing…”
“You want a statue? That’s easy. Over in Holletta, there’s even a legend of the All the Good Names Are Taken mercenary company.” Hao Ren chuckled. “But I still need to say this… This time around, our case is not your usual stuff and is probably the biggest challenge we will ever face, and while we have a true god with us, victory is not assured, so…”
“Alright, just stop where you are. We know what you’re about to say,” Nangong Sanba did not give Hao Ren the opportunity to finish as he held his hand up to stop him. “You’ve said something like this before… But for me, we have been running about this part of space for so many years, so it is not like we could put it down when we want to, for this team, or for this universe. At least that’s how it is for me and my sister, we’ve come so far, so don’t tell us to back out now.”
Nangong Wuyue gave her brother a rather surprised look, “Brother, I never thought you’d say something like this.”
Nangong Sanba laughed, his face as deadpan as he can be, “I’m more afraid that if he really tries to convince me I might actually go along with it…”
Wuyue immediately smacked her tail on his head again, and the basilica was a scene of joyous laughter…
“Well, to be frank, Sanba may be right, but I still feel there’s a few of us here who had not thought that far and wide. They have been following us around sure, but it’s more like we had dragged them along.” Vivian said as she pointed towards a nearby direction.
Rollie was squatting behind the table as she was in a serious discussion with Lil Pea. “Let me lick you, and I’ll let you eat my diary today, nya!”
And Lil Pea responded with a somersault slap onto her head, while Noobie, schadenfreude-ly lobbed a couple of corrosive missiles at Rollie who was hugging her head, seemingly to cheer Lil Pea on.
And Hao Ren had seen this scene plenty of times…
“That three… Just leave them back at home.” Hao Ren concurred, “And I don’t think they’d be suitable to join in on what we are about to do.”
Everyone agreed.
At that moment Wuyue realized that Rheia had not been speaking since the beginning and was lost in thought, she then approached her out of curiosity, “What are you thinking about?”
Rheia looked up, with a faint smile on her face, “Nothing, just that after so long, my voice will once again appear in the hearts of those children… Will there be people who still remember who am I?”
Lily raised an eyebrow, “You’re planning to use universe megapho… No, you’re planning to speak to them?”
“That’s of course,” Hao Ren replied on Rheia’s behalf, “They have to know what had happened, and all of the surviving civilizations need to prepare themselves. In the event that the taint of the Mad Lord appears on their planet, those unprepared civilizations will be screwed. That aside, you lot leading the Einherjars descending from the heavens to fight the minions of chaos before them will be quite scary too. So we need to mobilize all of the surviving civilizations, and with their cooperation, you’ll lead the Einherjars to extinguish those seepages where they appear.”
“Holletta still maintained the faith of the goddess of creation, with a complete religious hierarchy and influence to match, while the Zormites on Tannagost do not have a religious system yet, but they do know of the goddess of creation,” Vivian explained to Rheia, “The exiled civilization on Io may be a little problematic… They have lost all links to the past, while the Executors, who still has links to the past, but they have totally abandoned the concept of religion, and they probably won’t know who you are.”
“But they know the inspector and the droid swarm,” Hao Ren took over, “We can work this out, Rheia, go ahead and speak to the entire universe. Let all of the surviving civilizations know of the final battle, and I’ll replay it to them, so there won’t be anyone left out.”
Lily was rather worried, “Say, will the civilizations collapse into anarchy once they hear about this?”
“They were not born in a greenhouse,” Hao Ren shook his head, “All of the civilizations we found so far, which of them were not survivors from a catastrophe? Their level of civilization may differ, but they are sure as hell hardy people, plus we are not telling everyone right away, rather we’ll tell their leaders and intelligentsia first, then decide on what’s next.
Seeing Hao Ren had made arrangements on this matter, Rheia was relieved, “That a relief.”
Hao Ren looked at Rheia and smiled. “You should really talk more to your faithful followers in Holletta. They are probably the biggest miracle in this universe. Not only did they survived the apocalypse, and their faith structure is preserved until today, that is really unique to them.”
“I had actually thought of it, but… don’t laugh. I’m a little nervous.” Rheia stuck her tongue out. “Too many things have happened, with too long a gap. They had undergone an apocalypse themselves, and I too had fallen and gone into a deep slumber… Now that we meet again, what should I say?”
As she said, she shook her head, “And based on their legends, the apocalypse ten thousand years ago was caused by the furious goddess of creation… how do I even explain that to them?”
Hao Ren facepalmed. “Who would believe you when you go, “Oh, the goddess did not answer your prayers due to stage fright”…”
“Are you really the grim yet loving, omnipresent and omnipotent goddess of creation in their legends?” Lily too stared at Rheia, “Why do I feel like you’re a noob with a hacked account the more I know you?”
“I was like that all along…” Rheia said, rather abashedly. “I loved studying the stars best, and most of the time I was studying them, or something else. And most of the time the communication with the mortals are handled by the guardians. And even long, long ago when I did answer their prayers, I did not speak much… and I don’t know how they managed to spin that into me being a grim figure… and every time I kept quiet they just called it ‘its a trial from the goddess’.”
Hao Ren sighed, “Pfft, no wonder my boss said that legends are fan-fictions that had strayed the furthest away from the original work. The nonsense those god-botherers can come up with will shock even the gods themselves. You won’t know what sort crap they’ll come up with when you just look away for a couple of days…”
Rheia could only smile awkwardly and agreed with Raven 12345 in her heart.
At that moment, Lemendusa’s projection appeared in the basilica, and the latter’s sightly tensed voice broke the chatter.
“Mother, there’s some problem with the Creation’s Engine.”
Rheia immediately got serious. “What’s wrong?”
“We have detected a powerful yet abnormal fluctuation of information when we tried to connect the Heart of God to the three Gilded Discs.” Lemendusa said, “The two are unable to synchronize.”