Chapter 444 393: An Unexpected Enemy

In the distance.

The rebel leader responsible for escorting the Wizard's Divine Artifact urged the men from the Mechanist Cult to speed up.

He then turned to look at the battle zone within the ruins. Propping his right foot on a crate in front of him and shouldering his Knight's Warhammer with his left, the eyepiece of his Full Coverage Helmet zoomed in.

Although the battlefield was over a kilometer away, he could still feel the terrifying, oppressive presence of the Harvester as it fought!

He knew that no Imperial Knight who joined the Vengeful Angels was weak, but to hold out for this long under the onslaught of a Harvester Titan... He desperately wanted to know the origins of those who dared to invade the Seventeenth Excavation Site.

Reinhardt?

'Unlikely.'

The searchlights of the heavy transport ship were blindingly bright.

The rebel leader turned his head and saw Great Sage Cassio walking down the steel ramp. He quickly set down his warhammer, bowed his head slightly to the man, and gave an Imperial military salute before saying humbly, "Lord, are you certain the battle over there doesn't require our intervention?"

Great Sage Cassio was a scrawny, withered old man who looked completely unremarkable.

He held a scepter, and his face was obscured beneath a bright red cloak.

Eight mechanical arms, like an octopus's tentacles, swayed gently behind his back.

Judging by the strength of his aura alone, this Great Sage—a man who held great power within the Mechanist Cult of the Ash Soil Star Zone—seemed to be nothing more than a mortal whose body had undergone simple modifications.

Even so, this did nothing to diminish his authority.

For not only Governor Claudius, but also the rebel army in Cyrenaica, more than half of their chances of winning this war depended on keeping him happy.

Besides, it was no exaggeration to say that Cassio, being one of the three Great Sages, had a whole armory's worth of ancient knowledge stored in his head.

If anything happened to this man in the underground ruins, the rebel Knight was certain that before Lord Claudius could even get around to skinning him alive, Cassio's fanatical followers in the Mechanist Cult would tear him to pieces with their bare hands.

Hearing the rebel Knight's question, Cassio let out a choppy laugh, like a skipping gramophone.

"Heh heh heh… Your strength is not yet worthy of making an enemy of the Vengeful Angels invading these ruins. Just do your job, Terence. Don't worry about things that aren't your concern."

'Not worthy?'

On this point, Terence felt it was less a statement of contempt and more a simple statement of fact.

After all, those people weren't fighting an ordinary Titan. That thing was a Harvester—a specialized, elite, Glory-Class War Titan!

There were only three in the entire Ash Soil Star Zone, each under the control of one of the three Great Sages.

Forget him and his men; even if his Battle Group Commander were to face that mechanical behemoth, he likely wouldn't survive a minute.

To be able to tangle with that kind of killing machine for so long… Terence found it hard to imagine what would happen to him if he were the one facing those Vengeful Angels.

As for his earlier guess about it being Reinhardt himself…

Terence couldn't help but laugh wryly at the thought. He couldn't even begin to fathom just how powerful the Lord of Vengeful had become.

From what he'd heard, of the two strongest experts who had boarded the ship earlier, Nelom and Sipia, one had defected on the spot, and the other had simply vanished into thin air.

And those two were absolute top-tier powerhouses in their faction!

Even Lord Claudius had to treat them with the utmost courtesy.

After giving Great Sage Cassio a slight nod of respect, Terence turned back, preparing to urge his men to speed up the transfer.

For some reason, his combat instincts—honed by blood and fire—screamed at him that just by standing near the Wizard's Divine Artifact, something terrible was about to happen.

It felt as if something was constantly watching them from the shadows.

The Wizard's Divine Artifact sealed in the crate was too important. To avoid any unexpected complications, he didn't want to stay in the underground ruins a second longer than necessary.

"Walt, tell the squads to heighten their alert. I have a bad feeling about this."

「Meanwhile.」

After just three minutes of fighting, two of the five Silencers were already missing and presumed dead.

After Crab and another Silencer regrouped with Urus, he knew with stark clarity that if they continued to stall, death would be the only outcome.

The rebels would also brazenly transport the Wizard's Divine Artifact right under their noses.

After a moment of silence, Crab's ragged breathing could be heard behind Urus. "Sir, the rebels have moved the artifact out from behind the barrier."

Urus said coldly, "What are you trying to say?"

"Gecko Tactic."

After Crab said the name of the tactic, Urus glanced back at him.

His lack of a reply was tacit approval.

The so-called Gecko Tactic was a method the Silencer Battle Group used to escape or achieve victory during difficult missions by "shedding its tail." And shedding the tail meant someone had to willingly die to buy precious time for the others.

Moreover, the Gecko Tactic was far more complex than simply sending a group to die as a distraction. Its execution required the team to act in perfect concert, making the sacrifice only at the most critical moment.

Urus would never allow his subordinates to propose the Gecko Tactic unless they were in a truly desperate situation.

But now, with the rebels moving the artifact out from the barrier, this might be their only chance to seize it.

However, just as the two Silencers behind Urus were preparing to meet their heroic deaths, something unexpected happened during the artifact's transfer.

A figure lurking within the ruins shot toward the Wizard's Divine Artifact, moving like a star streaking through the dark void at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. In a flash, a terrifying wave of Witchcraft Energy instantly killed all the mortals around the heavy transport ship.

Even half of the thirty rebel Knights in the escort collapsed, unconscious.

Great Sage Cassio, who bore the brunt of it, was thrown to the ground and died instantly!

The Harvester Titan, which had been in a brief standoff with Urus and his two men, abruptly froze. Its mechanical body stopped, and its head, which housed the pilot, swiveled to look toward the distant transport platform.

In the space of a single breath, the Harvester Titan abandoned its blockade of Urus's team and, like a great beast of steel, began a mad dash toward the Wizard's Divine Artifact!

It smashed through Wizard High Towers along its path, kicking up clouds of dust that filled the air.

The supposedly dead Great Sage Cassio's voice, now thundering with rage, suddenly erupted from every broadcast device in the underground ruins.

Every word he spoke conveyed the same meaning: he was panicking.

"Thief—! Robber—! What are you brainless idiots standing around for?! Get her—!"

At that same moment, Urus watched as the unidentified attacker completely ignored the rebel Knights trying to block her path. Striking once before retreating, she seized the massive crate containing the Wizard's Divine Artifact out of thin air and turned to flee the ruins at high speed!

Seeing this, Crab's expression shifted. His first thought was that the attacker had been sent by Grand Lord Kles.

But with Silencer Enok in Cyrenaica, such a move made no sense at all.

'Could it be someone from another faction?'

But aside from the fact that the person was a powerful Wizard, he knew nothing else.

Crab frowned. "Sir."

Urus raised a hand, signaling him to say no more.

Regardless, as long as the Wizard's Divine Artifact hadn't fallen into Claudius's hands, their objective was met. As for who stole it, that could be investigated later.

But he was still utterly astonished by the event.

Was there really a Wizard in the Ash Soil Star Zone who dared to snatch the Wizard's Divine Artifact right under the nose of Silencer Enok?