Free Web NovelChapter 120: Chapter 92: Soldier’s Glory, The Motive Behind, In the Name of the Angel
Laslo frantically scanned his surroundings. The corpses of the heavily armed invaders were scattered in pieces across the rubble-strewn street, none of them whole. Bloodstains were everywhere.
The surviving soldiers of the Defense Army stood atop the enemy’s corpses, gathered around him and Reinhardt as if on a pilgrimage. They lowered their heads and knelt on one knee.
It was as if they were awaiting a word from the Angel, as if they were awaiting the gospel of the Divine Emperor.
But all they received was a single, hoarse and low phrase.
"Keep fighting." freewebnovёl.ƈom
Only then did Laslo realize with astonishment, ’I’m not dead?!’
’But how can that be?!’ He had clearly seen the enemy’s longsword plunge into his chest. The memory of that suffocating, excruciating pain was still fresh.
He hastily looked down at his body. There was an ugly gash on his chest and another on his abdomen. The bloodstains on his leather armor and clothes hadn’t even dried yet.
It was a power akin to a divine miracle. He could hardly believe his eyes. At that moment, even his body surged with strength, as if he had been reborn.
Laslo scrambled to his feet and looked toward Reinhardt, but upon meeting the Angel’s gaze, he quickly lowered his head in reverence.
"You’ve done all you can, soldier. Go to Caster Monastery and seek sanctuary. An Alchemy Needle can save your life, but you can no longer fight."
’An Alchemy Needle?’
Laslo was born in the countryside outside the Desolate Wasteland Ruins. He had heard there were Wandering Mages in the Lower City District, but he had thought this was a miracle from the Divine Emperor himself...
But Reinhardt’s command was absolute, and not for him to question.
Laslo knelt on one knee before Reinhardt, offering his deepest respect. "By your command, Angel."
A powerful surge of air pressure made it hard for him to breathe.
A sonic boom pierced his eardrums.
Laslo looked up, watching Reinhardt disappear at the far end of the ruins, a torrent of emotions washing over him.
The other Defense Army soldiers gradually rose to their feet. Even the most experienced veterans no longer looked at the young recruit with disdain.
To have his performance in battle recognized by one of the Divine Emperor’s Angels was the highest honor countless Mortal Soldiers could never hope to achieve in their entire lifetimes.
But Laslo had done it, through his courage, his fearlessness, and his loyalty.
—
The elite Wolf Pack squad was composed of the finest soldiers in the Radiant Empire—veterans of a thousand battles with astounding combat strength.
Had they faced the Iron Blood Battle Group, which Reinhardt once served in, it would have taken a heavy toll to eliminate them, even with Earth Knight Fei Ning leading the charge.
Dietlinde, a Five-star Military Rank Knight and the strongest warrior in the Iron Blood Battle Group besides its commander, was far inferior to these men in both strength and combat experience.
Unfortunately for them, they had run into Reinhardt.
When he had first engaged the Wolf Pack Knights, they had sent a distress signal to their Battle Group headquarters. In all likelihood, an even more powerful squad of Knights would soon be on their way to kill him.
Of course, a war of aggression was always a matter of economics.
A Great Lord would rarely be foolish enough to mobilize a thousand-strong Knight Battle Group and a massive Infantry Legion at any cost just because of a minor squabble with one person, especially not using a time-sensitive tactic like an orbital drop via a Radiant Waymark.
This was especially true for Kles, the Great Lord who ruled a hundred worlds.
It was a no-brainer; such a shrewd ruler would never mobilize his forces on such a grand scale over a petty argument.
Reinhardt didn’t understand the numbingly tedious and complex budget approval processes of the Military Affairs Department or the internal affairs ministry.
But Governor Ullrich, when speaking with him about the Ash Soil Star Zone, had stated frankly that unless Grand Lord Kles had lost his mind...
...otherwise, the combined population and resources of three worlds like Seventeenth wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of using a Radiant Waymark to land such an army.
And that was just for the expenditure of the Waymark and its energy consumption during the landing.
Factoring in combat losses and the cost of time, even if the operation to conquer the Desolate Wasteland Ruins succeeded perfectly, the post-war profit analysis would be deep in the red.
As the war dragged on, and especially after encountering the elite Wolf Pack tactical squad that had come specifically for him, Reinhardt finally understood their true objective.
If their only goal was to kill him, Grand Lord Kles could have simply dispatched a powerful Knight to infiltrate the ruins and assassinate him.
But their hands were clearly tied. Not only were they fighting for territory with other powers on the front lines, but they were also worried that his unusual actions would attract the attention of other factions waiting on the sidelines.
A Radiant Holy Artifact.
A Divine Artifact on par with a Void Divine Artifact was reason enough for a Great Lord to spare no expense. Even if Kles, who had sided with Demons, couldn’t use its power, the Merchant Family backing him certainly would covet it.
The beings of this world didn’t just seize Void Divine Artifacts in their search for greater power. Fanatical believers of the Divine Emperor, or even wealthy collectors, would also vie for weapons and equipment blessed by the Radiant Divine Emperor.
This was especially true in the Ash Soil Star Zone, a lawless region completely outside the Empire’s control.
Not everyone could resist the temptation of Extraordinary Power with the iron will of an Ascetic like Raphael. Even when the Great Demon Level Thousand-Change Monarch had pleaded endlessly inside his mind, he could not be swayed.
Raphael had once told him that ever since that day, the Demon’s voice had remained in his head, tormenting his mind. It tried to tempt him into abandoning his faith with the promise of an Ancient Wizard’s supreme Mighty Power, a power capable of altering reality itself.
In a way, some extreme fanatics viewed Radiant Holy Artifacts with a similar obsessive desire. To them, true Loyalty to the Divine Emperor meant these Sacred Artifacts had to be in their hands. Anyone else who possessed them was a heretic!
Since Grand Lord Kles so desperately wanted the Divine Emperor’s Fury, Reinhardt wouldn’t mind personally delivering it to him one day.
...
The Desolate Wasteland Ruins had now completely fallen. Grand Lord Kles’s army was slaughtering its way through the massive Stereoscopic City—a metropolis as vast as a world—not even sparing the darkest corners of the Lower City District.
An individual’s power, even for someone as strong as Reinhardt, the chosen of two gods, was still insignificant in this monumental war built upon the deaths of millions.
He could slaughter thousands of Mortal infantry in a single city block, and he could wipe out squad after squad of heavily armed raider knights. But in the Desolate Wasteland Ruins, hundreds, even thousands, were dying every second.
Reinhardt had used an Alchemy Needle recovered from the Wolf Pack Knights to save the Mortal Soldier’s life, sparing no expense, simply because he admired the young man’s courage.
In this metropolis, for the people struggling to survive amidst war and death, the only thing they could rely on was their own indomitable Spiritual Power.
This war had been started by the enemy’s greed.
He hoped the young man’s unyielding defiance would inspire his comrades—inspire all the soldiers fighting for the Desolate Wasteland Ruins, and for their world.
In the name of a Divine Emperor’s Angel.
