Chapter 286 249: Crisis! The Rebel Main Force

「At that very moment.」

After his ten consecutive requests for aid went unanswered, Senior Think Tank Albert finally received a personal reply from the front-line command.

Or rather, the front-line command informed him that after more than a month of a war of attrition, the main force of the Imperial Rebel Army and the Shredder Legion of the Dark Abyss had finally appeared near the exit of the Void Storm.

Albert raised his head. His gaze pierced through the small room's window and the dense space debris outside the Orbital Port.

An Ark of Calamity, over a thousand kilometers in diameter and so vast it resembled an asteroid, used Void Teleportation to suddenly appear in high planetary orbit, thirty thousand kilometers from Verne!

And then another.

Two ships, then three...

Six Arks of Calamity, the symbol of the Imperial Rebel Army's main force, descended one after another into high orbit, true to their name!

The star went dark.

Space warped.

The immense gravity emanating from these Arks of Calamity even began to tear at the Orbital Port's main structure. Vast quantities of ship wreckage and space debris converged into a swirling river of death, breaking free from Verne World's gravity and surging toward these behemoths from the Void Realm!

Albert wasn't the only one to notice this horrifying scene.

At that moment, every soldier on the defensive lines of the uppermost Barge Port witnessed firsthand the terrifying sight that plunged them deep into despair.

Rather than Demon Mother Ships, the Arks of Calamity were bloated, twisted creations—amalgamations of space debris, shipwrecks, and asteroids.

But war shows no mercy.

The soldiers and Imperial Knights on the port's defensive line didn't even have time to be shocked.

For as soon as the Arks of Calamity descended into Verne's high orbit, hordes of Void Knights began landing on the Orbital Port, arriving on Flesh Battleships via the Net Path.

「Barge Port Three.」

The officer commanding this defensive line was Georg. After an internal reform pilot program in the Death Battle Group's Auxiliary Army, the former company commander from the old system now held the rank of Colonel in the Third Legion.

His right cheek was wrapped in gauze that was still seeping blood.

Although his latest-issue, dark-gray uniform was stained with blood and soot, it still looked sharp with his leather boots.

The peaked military cap that had once sat on his head, bearing the skeletal insignia of the Death Battle Group, was long gone. He tossed aside an empty Holy Machine Gun with his right hand—a weapon blessed by a Technician Priest.

He raised his left arm high, drew the pistol issued only to officers, and roared, "The Empire's reinforcements are on the way! Do not falter! For the Emperor—!"

'Reinforcements?'

Of course, Georg knew he was lying, but he had to say it to maintain his soldiers' morale.

"Elwin, take your men and plug the gap in the eastern line!"

A young captain steadied the cap on his head, his face etched with worry. "But sir, our ammunition is gone. We have less than fifteen rounds to distribute per soldier. We..."

"Shut your mouth! This is war! If you're out of bullets, draw your swords! The Old Empire's Infantry Legions fought Demons with cold steel for a thousand years and never complained as much as you!"

Facing his superior's wrath, the captain named Elwin could only brace himself and prepare to lead his men back to the front. They were the same soldiers he had pulled back to regroup just three minutes earlier, and now they had to return, unsupplied.

Twenty years is a short time.

But in the world of Mortals, that's two generations.

These young soldiers, raised in the Administrative Regions, had only been trained in the use of firearms; they had no systematic training in melee combat.

While the reforms pushed by Sedon meant the individual combat prowess of an Infantry Legion soldier was far inferior to that of the old system, the upside was that the legions could be massively expanded.

New recruits could be deployed to the battlefield after only a month of basic training.

No sooner had Captain Elwin left than three Flesh Battleships carrying troops of the Imperial Rebel Army smashed through heaps of Demons and landed with a crash in the Barge Port, a mere thirty meters from Colonel Georg!

When over twenty Void Knights leaped from the ships into his line of sight, the decorated old soldier felt something clutch at his throat, making it hard to breathe.

He glanced toward the neighboring Ports Two and Four. Rebel forces of a similar size were landing on the Orbital Port in massive numbers!

'Bastards...'

The total number of Void Knights who had landed on the Barge Port previously hadn't exceeded twenty, and even then, they had inflicted grievous casualties.

But now, more than twenty Void Knights had appeared in his Port Three alone.

'How are we supposed to hold the line?!'

As a Void Knight swung its Slaughter Knife and charged straight for him, Georg was gripped by such immense fear that he felt his heart stop.

'Divine Emperor above...'

He drew his pistol to fight back, but how could a mere Mortal like him resist the power of a Transcendent?

In that instant, Colonel Georg had already prepared himself to return to the Divine Emperor's embrace. But in the next, an imposing figure suddenly descended before him!

A fearsome Black War Axe, radiating unstoppable power, slammed into the Void Knight's back with crushing force!

The Knight was thrown by the impact, crashing violently to the ground.

Then, as Georg watched in shocked awe, Reinhardt planted a foot on the Void Knight's nearly-bisected corpse, wrenched his blood-drenched War Axe free, and glanced down at the officer behind him.

"Keep fighting, soldier."

Georg froze for a moment. According to Imperial Army protocol, he should have snapped to attention and saluted, or knelt on one knee, to show reverence to this Imperial Knight whose name he did not know.

But the defensive line was already on the verge of collapse.

Even if every one of his soldiers was a warrior worth ten, without supplies and ammunition, he couldn't hold Port Three even if he were given another ten thousand men.

Georg knew the Imperial Knight who had saved him was of an extraordinarily high status.

'I'm dead either way,' he thought, casting aside all thoughts of protocol. He looked Reinhardt straight in the eye, clearly furious at the implication that they lacked the will to fight. With blood rushing to his head, he strode up to Reinhardt and shouted, "We've been fighting this whole time, Angel! But what about the supplies we were promised? For the Divine Emperor's sake, do you expect my soldiers to bite these traitors and Demons to death?"

Raphael, who was monitoring the port warzone in real time, instantly noticed the Auxiliary Army colonel rushing up to confront Reinhardt—one of the Emperor's Vengeful Angels.

A moment later, a voice sounded in Georg's ear.

'Watch your tone, soldier. You can bring any issues to me.'

'Bring them to you?'

If he had a brick in his hand right now, Georg swore he would smash it over the head of the bastard whispering in his ear!