Chapter 280 - 243: A Horror Game of Cat and Mouse

Standing tall upon the ashes of Huffman’s remains.

Reinhardt’s eyes burned eternally with the Divine Emperor’s Flame. Wherever his gaze landed, the heads of hundreds of Demons burst into flame under the Mighty Power of the Eye of Judgment, and they collapsed to the ground, wailing.

At that very moment.

Every member of the Ash Guard and Mortal Auxiliary Army who witnessed the scene was shaken to their very core!

The two Think Tank members of the Ash Guard still fighting in the warzone—their eyes crackling with purple Spiritual Energy—also stared in utter disbelief!

’By the Divine Emperor...’

Because in their Spiritual Perception, after Reinhardt activated his Eye of Judgment, a phantom of a Vengeful Angel, forged from slaughter and death, began to faintly materialize behind him.

Its wings were like blood spilling from the heavens.

It brandished a sharp blade, surrounded by mountains of bone.

Its eyes, forged from the Emperor’s own flame, radiated an eternal, vengeful fury.

If they, like Florian before them, had thought that "Emperor’s Vengeful Angels" was merely a reverent title for Reinhardt from the soldiers and people of Verne World...

Then now, they suddenly understood. They understood why Raphael—a Combat Priest who was also a Think Tank member—would write Reinhardt’s deeds into the Angel Holy Scripture. And they understood why the Orders of the National Church on Iberian World would hold endless discussions about this newly compiled Holy Scripture.

To doubt, to understand, to become.

As Think Tank members themselves, just like Raphael, they could fully imagine the profound shock that young man must have felt when he first witnessed these sacred and solemn phantoms while fighting alongside Reinhardt.

Because that was precisely how they felt at this very moment.

However, unlike the Imperial Think Tank members—blessed with powerful Spiritual Talent and the Wizard Bloodline, able to glimpse secrets in the Spiritual Domain far beyond the reach of mortals—the reaction of the Mortal Auxiliary Army was different. After witnessing hundreds of Demons incinerated by the Divine Emperor’s wrath, a torrent of fighting spirit roared to life in their chests.

In the eyes of these soldiers.

Reinhardt was the very embodiment of the Emperor’s will, destined to lead them to a glorious victory!

The battle raged on.

With the death of Huffman, leader of the Flayers Warband, the morale of the Demon Legion at the Barge Port plummeted. Even the powerful Flayer Knights, who had been firmly suppressing the Ash Guard, began to retreat—or more accurately, to flee in disarray.

In order to seize the departing ships, these traitors did not hesitate to turn their blades on one another.

A Flayer Knight at the Peak of Six-Star Official Military Rank, who held some command authority, kicked aside a brother from his Combat Gang who was trying to board ahead of him. He pressed his sword to the man’s neck and roared, "Coward! Craven! The Combat Gang needs your sacrifice now, and you dare to run?!

You lot, go and hold off that Imperial Knight! If we fail to capture the Orbital Port, you know what Lord Flayer will do."

Although Huffman was their Combat Gang’s leader, there were many such gangs loyal to the Fear Knight, Flayer Du Ma, and theirs was just one of them.

The Flayer Knight with the Knight’s Broadsword at his neck glared back and spat a curse.

"Ever! If we can’t get away, you’re not escaping either!"

There was no camaraderie of Battle Brothers among the members of a Void Realm Combat Gang. For these unscrupulous traitors, infighting was as common as breathing.

As long as they could please the supreme Avernus through slaughter, they didn’t care who they killed.

But as the two factions fought to the death over a single evacuating ship, an utterly terrifying Knightly Aura descended upon their Knight Perception like a howling storm.

When they turned and saw the brilliant stream of Energy streaking across the warzone from afar, their souls nearly fled their bodies in terror!

"Damn it! That monster is coming for us!"

"Getting distracted at a time like this? Die, you fool."

"You—!"

Although the eight Void Knights had split into two factions, even those on the same side were hardly the kind of trustworthy Battle Brothers you could rely on.

Of the two who had been fighting side-by-side just moments ago to seize the ship, one would never have dreamed that his own comrade would draw his blade and strike him down.

The wounded Void Knight hadn’t even hit the ground. A speed-focused Void Knight, desperate to escape, paid him no mind. He caught sight of a Flesh Battleship at another Barge Port a hundred meters away, preparing to withdraw through the Net Path. Shaking off his supposed allies, he bolted toward it. Just as the ship entered the gateway to the Net Path, he grabbed hold of its hull and vanished along with it.

The rest pushed and shoved, desperately squeezing onto a ship meant for Low Level Demons. They kicked down one unlucky soul who couldn’t get on in time, hastily shut the hatch, and prepared to start the ship and enter the Net Path.

But when a terrifying tremor, as if a great weight had slammed onto the hull above, shook the ship’s cabin...

The faces of the five Void Knights who had scrambled aboard all changed dramatically!

What should have been a blood-pumping battle had, thanks to the despicable methods of the Void Realm Combat Gang, completely devolved into a terrifying game of cat and mouse.

The intangible pressure emanating from Reinhardt was like a sword hanging over their heads, suffocating them.

"Bastard, what are you gaping at?! Start the ship, now!"

However, it was already too late to escape.

They heard the agonized screams of their Combat Gang brother dying horribly outside, and they heard the terrifying boom of a War Axe striking the hull of the Flesh Battleship!

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

Each impact felt as if it struck their own flesh, and the sound made their very souls shudder.

And when the broad blade of the Black War Axe smashed through into the Flesh Battleship’s cabin, right before the horrified eyes of the Void Knights, one of them finally broke under the pressure of impending death, his voice cracking as he shrieked.

"Start the ship! Start the ship now!"

As the engines roared to life, the Flesh Battleship slowly began to ascend.

The hacking from the top of the ship abruptly stopped, as if the being outside had given up the hunt.

Although the battlefield was filled with the roar of cannons and the engines thundered, to the ears of these Void Knights, the cabin was quiet. Terrifyingly quiet.

Just when they thought they had escaped.

A violent explosion, like a cannonball striking the hull, rocked the ship. The engines were severely damaged, and even the gash hacked into the roof burst wide open!

The demonic face of the Void Knight piloting the ship turned deathly pale. He frantically shook the ship’s control stick and yelled, "We’ve lost control! We’ve lost control!"

As the Flesh Battleship wobbled and plummeted from the sky, the Void Knights inside were thrown about and dazed by the crash.

Before they could regain their senses.

A massive hand clad in Power Armor gripped the edge of the breach. Then, an Imperial Knight, the Eternal Flame burning in his eye sockets, appeared before them like a vengeful specter!

The Void Knight whose voice had cracked in terror earlier, holding his Broadsword, stared directly into the flaming eyes of his foe. He took a step back, his expression twisting in a grimace. His mind completely broke, and he let out a hysterical, terrified scream.

"Stay away from me!"