Chapter 222 - 187: Cunning Imperial Knight

As the rear hatch of the Punisher slowly opened, the figure of Seventy-Six appeared in everyone’s line of sight. Or rather, half of Seventy-Six.

The ship’s engines kicked up a monstrous gale.

The assassin, who was the size of an ordinary person, stood on one leg. His other leg, along with his entire lower body, had completely vanished.

The black artificial skin covering his body was torn open at the chest, revealing the organs and Mechanical Structures within.

But these injuries, severe enough to kill an Imperial Knight, seemed only to hinder his movement, not prove fatal.

Scraps of cloth and skin on Seventy-Six’s body danced in the wind. He knelt on one knee, held his gun in his right hand, steadied the stock with his neck, and fired several shots. The special-made bullets accurately blasted through the heads of the Elite Slaughter Demons, covering Manon and Matthias’s retreat.

’Time to board, folks.’

The moment the Telepathy ended,

Irenia acted decisively, killing the Dragon Blood Warrior who had been tangling with her. She flew low to the ground like a streak of light and zipped into the ship’s hold.

Seventy-Six merely glanced at her, his right hand quietly reaching for the dagger hidden at the small of his back.

After Irenia boarded, Agate followed close behind. The Technician Soldier’s first act upon boarding was to take back control of the Punisher from Seventy-Six.

He checked the extent of the ship’s hull damage and whether the power systems were compromised.

At the same time, he connected to the ship’s memory banks to determine the extent of the Space Dragon Race’s blockade of the Kemola Tomb World.

This miniaturized warship from the Ancient Wizard Civilization was so advanced that even the fleets of the Imperial Navy and the Space Dragon Race could not compare.

After checking the ship’s memory, the expression on Agate’s alchemically modified face darkened. As he prepared the Punisher for takeoff, he sent a telepathic message, ’We only have one chance to escape. If we can’t reach low planetary orbit within thirty minutes, I’m afraid the only thing we’ll be able to do is pray for the protection of the God of All Machines.’

Under Raphael’s covering fire, Manon and Matthias boarded together.

They turned to look at the scene not far away. Reinhardt was standing alone, single-handedly holding back the elite forces of the Space Dragon Race that had just arrived on the battlefield.

Raphael’s brow furrowed. He sent via Telepathy, ’Lord! We have to leave!’

But Reinhardt just responded coldly, ’Agate, start the ship.’

The vanguard force deployed by the Space Dragon Race was composed entirely of Pure-blood Level Centurion Dragon Blood Warriors, twenty of them in total.

Even Reinhardt wasn’t strong enough to handle all these enemies.

Because each of these elite Centurions was no weaker than the Warlord Nico! In fact, some individuals with powerful Mighty Power in their bloodlines were even stronger than Nico!

Then, a second landing beacon slammed down.

A Dragon Blood Warrior wearing Armor, adorned with scale-patterned totems, and a full size larger than the other Centurions, strode out of the Dao Mark Teleportation Gate!

From a hundred meters away, its cold, emerald-green vertical pupils stared at Reinhardt, who was still handling the siege with ease.

The aura of its Mighty Power distorted the light around it.

Its twin blades were like curved dragon fangs. They also seemed to be living things, with crimson blood vessels slowly writhing on their surfaces.

Upon seeing this Space Alien arrive on the battlefield, every one of the powerful Pure-blood Centurions lowered their heads and voluntarily cleared a path.

At this moment, on Reinhardt’s command, the Punisher slowly began to ascend.

Raphael and the others stood at the hatch, the fierce wind whipping at the blood on the surface of their Power Armor. They stared anxiously at Reinhardt, who was trapped deep within the encirclement.

As the ship ascended, they looked down from above.

They saw more and more members of the Space Dragon Race surging toward Reinhardt like a rising tide, cutting off all his escape routes.

Raphael’s right hand gripped the edge of the hatch tightly. He ripped off his helmet, his eyes wide with fury and despair!

For a moment, he thought Reinhardt was preparing to sacrifice himself to cover their retreat. Even Manon and Matthias fell silent.

But Seventy-Six alone looked relaxed, joking, "Don’t look at our captain like he’s already dead. He’s keen on fighting, but he’s not a mindless lunatic.

I bet he had us start the ship early just to mess with them."

If this were the newly formed Vengeance Angel Squad, and Seventy-Six had dared to make such an irresponsible joke at a critical moment, Raphael would definitely have beaten him up.

But after all they had been through, they had long since become Battle Brothers who could trust each other implicitly.

And the truth was just as Seventy-Six had guessed.

From the very beginning, Reinhardt’s tactical objective was to use himself as bait to draw in more enemies, giving the Punisher time to complete its startup and takeoff procedures.

Once the Punisher was airborne and ready to accelerate, Reinhardt hacked down a Pure-blood Centurion, then looked up and stared unflinchingly at the Dragon Blood Warrior whose power far surpassed his own.

Then, he raised his left hand, drenched in Dragon Race blood, and gave it a middle finger—a greeting from the Empire.

The Aikacia Nozzle suddenly began to overload.

Propelled by the high-temperature energy flow, Reinhardt’s body shot upward like a cannonball, carving an arc through the sky at extreme speed.

Like a gale of wind, he accurately shot past Raphael and the others and slammed into the Punisher’s hold.

Even though Reinhardt had already used the Overload Drive to decelerate beforehand, the inertia from his half-ton body still made the Punisher’s hull tremble.

Agate had apparently guessed Reinhardt’s tactical intentions as well.

The very moment he flew into the hold, the hatch closed, the power engines went to full throttle, and the ship became a streak of light, rocketing toward low planetary orbit at three times the speed of sound!

It left only the elite troops of the Space Dragon Race on the battlefield, fuming with impotent rage!

The Centurion that Reinhardt had publicly mocked had even been planning the cruelest way to kill that reckless member of the Imperial Human Race.

However, the enemy’s cunning had caught it off guard.

As experienced a warrior as it was, it immediately understood what had happened. The Imperial Knight who had pretended to cover the retreat was just deliberately toying with them! Stalling for time!

In a fury, it grabbed a nearby Elemental Master and roared, "Why didn’t you report his Knight Power Traits to the ship?! You worthless fools—!"

Each Dragon Blood Warrior Centurion was a powerful being equivalent to a leader of an Imperial Knight Battle Group.

Facing its wrath, the unlucky Elemental Master was like a child who had done something wrong, completely at a loss.

After venting its anger, the Centurion threw the Elemental Master aside. It looked up at the departing Punisher Ship, then turned and walked toward the Dao Mark Teleportation Gate in the landing beacon.

Although it didn’t understand the meaning of the Imperial Knight’s gesture, as a fellow intelligent species, it could guarantee he wasn’t wishing it well.

The more it tried to endure the insult, the angrier it became.

It decided to return to the orbital barge immediately, personally pilot a warship, and intercept that cunning Imperial Knight!