Chapter 449 397: Gift of the Machine God's First Battle, Personal Interests in War, Corrupting Shadow

The lethal heat gradually subsided.

The fiery red light illuminating the underground cavern dimmed along with it.

Reinhardt raised his head. Empowered by Imperial Technology Angel Vision, he could see the massive Titan through the swirling dust and smoke, despite being plunged into darkness.

It was humanoid in design.

In addition to its standard four limbs, two flexible mechanical arms on its back were mounted with massive Power Swords.

Three 150mm main cannons mounted on its right shoulder were now aiming down at him.

"I'll kill them all! I'll kill them all!"

"Pulin—! Calm down! Palo is dead! Besides, we've already disobeyed the Great Sage's orders by staying here too long. We can't let the Harvester Titan take any more serious damage."

"What are you afraid of?! So what if reinforcements arrive? No one can withstand the Harvester's power, not even the Emperor's Angels!"

"Pulin! Dammit…"

Inside the cramped cockpit.

Over a hundred Neural Metal Wires connected to the two pilots' spines. Because they were triplets, an outsider would have found it impossible to tell the three of them apart.

At this moment, the third brother, Palo, was already dead.

The second brother, Pulin, had completely lost his composure over his sibling's death. His older brother realized that these Imperial Knights were far from ordinary and pleaded with him, but he was still unable to curb Pulin's vengeful impulses.

The conflict between the two pilots was affecting the Titan's frame. The main cannon, after aiming, failed to fire. Its barrel swayed erratically, and the entire upper torso lurched from side to side.

Reinhardt's right hand, which had been reaching for the hilt of his War Axe, paused for a moment before he drew it back.

Whether it was a malfunction or some other problem, he had no intention of wasting too much time here. Koller's party was lingering near the Giant Beacon, and there was a huge risk that Silencer Koller could return at any moment.

He also needed to pinpoint the location of the Wizard's Divine Artifact and then withdraw from Cyrenaica quickly.

He wasn't one to meddle in affairs outside his purview. But now, as the Master of the Vengeful Angels, he was responsible for more than just his own life. If he failed to withdraw in time and something happened to him, Matthias and the reinforcements would surely storm Cyrenaica at any cost.

That was a scenario he did not want to see.

It would severely impact the course of the war against the rebellion, thereby disrupting the overall strategic planning for the Imperial Administrative Region.

Reinhardt took two steps back, then a jet of high-temperature energy propelled him rapidly toward the ship.

Nelom was standing at the hatchway, one hand braced against the frame. He let out a genuine sigh of relief when he saw Reinhardt return safely.

He wasn't worried about the Titan posing a threat to Reinhardt. He was worried that the enemy would notice their intent to withdraw and blow their dilapidated old training ship sky-high with a single shell.

It seemed Urus's sword strike, which had pierced the cockpit, had likely killed one of the Titan Drivers. Otherwise, the machine wouldn't be rampaging uncontrollably like this.

Seeing Reinhardt return, Nelom reached out with his right hand and pulled him aboard, simultaneously turning to signal the pilot to get the ship onto the lift platform immediately.

"We need to hurry and get out of this godforsaken place. If that thing goes berserk and blows up the platform and our ship, we'll be in deep trouble."

This was the same reason Urus hadn't wanted the Vengeful Angels to come to the mining site to begin with. Analyzing the terrain from a strategic perspective, the entire cavern was a tomb buried a kilometer underground.

Never mind the platform being destroyed—if there was even a simple cave-in, no one would escape.

The struggle and argument inside the Harvester Titan's cockpit, which prevented it from using its main cannon, was because one of the pilots shared this very concern. Otherwise, for a Titan, saturation bombardment with heavy firepower is always the top priority.

However, just as Nelom pulled Reinhardt onto the ship and the pilot started the engines, preparing to move toward the nearby lift platform, the muffled boom of a cannon shot echoed with startling clarity through the vast, empty cavern.

Or rather, by the time Nelom heard the shot, a 150mm heavy shell had already screamed over the ground behind their training ship. It skipped like a stone, bouncing several times before finally slamming into a nearby outer tower.

BOOM—!

A brilliant flash of light flared through the dark cavern, as brief and bright as a sun.

A terrifying roar reverberated through the air, sending showers of dirt and rock fragments flying. When the first steel support beam in the wall collapsed from the explosion, it set off a domino effect. The interconnected steel frames came crashing down in a massive, thunderous wave!

Then, an immense CRACK, so loud it drowned out the lingering roar of the blast, was heard by everyone. Three seconds later, fine sand and dirt began to fall from the ceiling, pattering on the roof of the training ship.

Nelom's pupils contracted. He quickly stuck his head out to look up, cursing through gritted teeth, "Fucking hell… Is that giant bastard trying to take us down with it?"

Unaware of the struggle inside the cockpit, Nelom assumed that Urus's sword strike had damaged the Titan's central control system, causing it to go haywire.

"Exeter! Get this ship over there, now! I'll handle activating the lift platform. Be quick!"

But they were underground, and the ship's inertia on startup was significant. Coupled with the training craft's poor maneuverability, the pilot, Exeter, could only fly over at a low altitude and at what felt like a crawl.