Chapter 313 - 273: Blood Slaughterhouse: Matthias, Finish Him

Ash Guards and Death Knights leaped from the ship one after another. Florian stood in the howling gale from the vessel’s breach, his right hand gripping a severed pipe inside the Demon Mother Ship.

Simultaneously, he issued telepathic commands to his men.

’Albert! Have the Technician Soldiers remain on the ship and stand by! Have Kaimir and his men stay and guard the vessel...’

Florian hadn’t finished.

Kaimir, the Ash Guard, flared up the moment he heard Florian assign him to guard duty. ’My lord! My squad and I can still fight! These wounds don’t affect my strength with a sword in the slightest!’

As he spoke, Kaimir swung his Knight’s Broadsword to show Florian that he was perfectly fine.

But the blood steadily seeping from his Power Armor told a different story.

Senior Think Tank Albert’s stern rebuke crackled over the telepathic channel. ’Kaimir! This is an order from the Iron Crown! Carry it out immediately. No objections will be tolerated.’

’But...’

’You must ensure the vessel’s safety, because the lives of all our brothers rest on the shoulders of you and your squad! Understand?!’

Of course, Kaimir understood the tactical value of guarding their rear, but as someone who had always been on the front lines, he struggled to accept such an arrangement.

The ship’s safety was paramount, but it was clear Lord Florian had made this decision out of concern for his condition. Kaimir’s severe injuries no longer permitted him to throw his life away on the front lines.

After conferring with Raphael, Albert addressed Kaimir again. ’You and your men will work with the Technician Soldiers from the Vengeful Angels to guard the ship. If you face a crisis, I have authorized Sergeant Agate to assume control of our vessel.

’Kaimir, remember this! This isn’t an Imperial Administrative Region. We have no backup!’

As the three ships pulled away from the breach in the Demon Mother Ship, Reinhardt met up with Florian. Leading the reinforcements, they hacked their way through the lesser Demons infesting the vessel, marching swiftly toward the coordinates of the distress signal.

...

「Half an hour later.」

Inside the Demon Mother Ship, the Blood Slaughterhouse.

In this colossal Abyssal Demon hatchery, as vast as a supercity spanning over a hundred kilometers, dense pools of blood and countless craters pitted the ground and ceiling.

Mountains of countless skulls rose a hundred meters high, each one impaled with a Demon Battle Banner symbolizing the dominion of Avernus. A ceaseless tide of Demon Power flowed from these banners, radiating outward.

Under the "blessing" of this Evil Power, thousands of newborn Demons metamorphosed into Convicted Demons and Slaughter Demons.

The moment these newborn Abyssal Demons opened their eyes, burning with sulfurous flames, they would immediately begin to slaughter each other and devour the flesh of their own kind.

If not for the intervention of the Void Governor, these Demons would continue to slaughter and devour one another until a single Elite Slaughter Demon emerged.

And amidst this veritable sea of Demons...

An Emperor’s Shield Knight, gnawed away until only half his body remained, lay on his back at the foot of the Bone Mountain, his right hand tightly clutching a Radiant Beacon that was still transmitting its signal.

Around him, the mangled corpses of other Emperor’s Shield Knights spread out from the foot of the Bone Mountain like the twisted, fleshy roots of some grotesque tree.

And among the corpses of more than a thousand Emperor’s Shield Knights...

...a severed Angel’s Wing from the Steel Mobile Battle Group floated above a viscous pool of blood.

This was the very edge of the Blood Slaughterhouse, the point closest to the exit. The screams of Demons rose and fell in waves, and the heavy tread of Power Boots made a sickening squelch on the flesh-strewn ground.

A towering figure knelt on one knee beside the pool of blood, picking up the Angel’s Wing floating on its surface.

His right hand, encased in Power Armor, clenched into a tight fist.

Not far away, Raphael’s voice came over the shared telepathic link. ’My lord! We’ve found the source of the signal, but the sender is already dead.’

Reinhardt rose, the broken wing in his hand. His gaze swept past the bodies of the Emperor’s Shield Knights littering the exit, past the rolling mountains of skulls and the dense pools of blood.

Though burning with rage, he calmly analyzed the intelligence value of their discoveries.

The Radiant Angels and their followers must have fought a horrific battle against the Demons here. The thousand-plus Emperor’s Shield Knights who died near the exit must have been covering a retreat.

’But without a ship, where could Albert and the others have possibly retreated to?’

Manon walked over to the corpse of the Emperor’s Shield Knight, the one still clutching the Radiant Beacon in death. The gauntlet of his right hand, gripping his Shield Tower, creaked audibly. He let out a heavy breath and gave Raphael a slight nod. "Thank you for your prayers, brother."

As a Combat Priest, Raphael could piously commend the souls of these loyal Heroic Spirits to the light of the Divine Emperor, acting in the Emperor’s name.

But they all knew the truth.

Once someone died here, whether they were an Imperial Knight or a Mortal, their soul would be captured by the Battle Banners of Avernus. The valuable ones would be thrown into the blood pools to gestate into Slaughter Demons and Convicted Demons.

The worthless were thrown directly into the Soul Furnace, to be utterly rendered down into fuel for Void Power.

Senior Think Tank Albert knelt on one knee before the exit, carefully examining the signs of the Radiant Angels’ retreat. Simultaneously, his eyes flared with a dark purple Spiritual Power.

A faint purple pulse rippled out from his body like a wave.

’Everyone, I have foreseen their likely retreat location. Ten kilometers from the Blood Slaughterhouse, there is one of the Demon Mother Ship’s hangars.’

Florian’s brow furrowed.

Tradition dictated he should burn the bodies of these Emperor’s Shield Knights to prevent their noble flesh from being defiled.

But here, on an expedition inside a Void Storm, having fought his way into a Demon Mother Ship, he had no resources to spare. All he could do was sever the head of a Slaughter Demon, impale it on its own Slaughter Knife, and plant it before the exit as a makeshift gravestone in honor of these loyal Knights.

However, just as they prepared to withdraw from the Blood Slaughterhouse, two Elite Slaughter Demons dropped from the sky, blocking their exit. The impact of their massive bodies made the ground tremble, sent waves through the pools of blood, and sent skulls CLATTERING down the Bone Mountains.

At the same time, a chilling voice echoed from all around them.

"Welcome to the Supreme One’s slaughterhouse, Imperial Knights. Hehehe... Since you’ve come all this way, why the hurry to leave? Such exquisite flesh and souls... you will make the finest materials for the slaughterhouse."

Had they been ordinary Imperial Knights, they surely would have been intimidated by the Void Governor’s blustering.

But to Reinhardt’s Knight Perception, this Void Governor, a mere Apprentice Level Tier Two Mage, had nowhere to hide.

Not waiting for Florian to order Albert to execute the death-seeking human traitor, Reinhardt, who was already seething with rage, ignored the threat of the two Elite Slaughter Demons blocking the exit. He unslung his Black War Axe and strode forward purposefully.

At the same time, he issued an order of execution to Matthias.

"Matthias, kill him."