Free Web NovelChapter 121: Chapter 93: Reinhardt’s Rise, I Am an Army of One
Caster Monastery. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Provincial Governor Ullrich paced anxiously, his gaze repeatedly drawn to the Radiant Beacon on the table.
More than forty-two standard hours had passed since he sent the distress call, but the Imperial Legions in the Ash Soil Star Zone had never replied.
It made him deeply suspect that the Loyalist Faction’s Imperial Legions had all been wiped out in the great rebellion.
He had originally thought Grand Lord Kles wouldn’t make a big fuss attacking the Seventeenth Military Port World, at most dispatching a Hundred-man Knight Order for a show of force.
But to use a Radiant Waymark to directly drop a Thousand-Man Battle Group and a full Infantry Legion... Ullrich sighed, his aged body looking even more weary.
Although Reinhardt’s arrival had saved this world, which teetered on the brink amidst a Demon’s plot, the Radiant Holy Artifact in his hands had also brought it a cataclysmic disaster.
In a Star Zone where the Empire had lost its authority, possessing a Sacred Artifact without immense power and backing would only bring disaster and death.
It wouldn’t just attract the attention of Knight Warlords and Cosmic Merchants. If word of this fell into the ears of certain Wizard Lords obsessed with power...
Ullrich didn’t dare to imagine just how "lively" the Seventeenth Military Port World, which had not seen outsiders for centuries, would become.
The Wizard Lord he had previously tried to contact for aid was an old friend from his youth. Compared to those madmen obsessed with power, this one was somewhat more normal. Not only was he a believer in the Divine Emperor, but he also had a military alliance with the Empire.
Divine Emperor preserve us.
’May news of the Radiant Holy Artifact not reach the ears of those greedy heretics.’
As he was praying silently, the door to the room was violently thrown open. Ullrich’s body clearly trembled, but when he saw who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Priest Raphael, by the Divine Emperor, where is Reinhardt?"
Raphael’s armor was smeared with blood and gore. He strode quickly to the Radiant Beacon to confirm it was intact.
Ignoring Ullrich’s question, Raphael asked with a grave expression, "How much longer can the Beacon hold out?"
Ullrich sighed helplessly.
"Ten hours at most..."
The Lord Governor’s words had not yet faded when the thunderous crash of a Radiant Waymark landing shook the air outside Caster Monastery, mingled with the terrified screams of refugees and the furious roars of New Recruit Knight Götz.
... fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
「Meanwhile.」
Central City District.
In an industrial factory district abandoned for centuries, tens of thousands of refugees huddled together in terror, their anxious eyes fixed on a gate secured by a single, flimsy chain.
The sounds of slaughter from outside the factory were deafening.
Every time the rusted iron gate shuddered, a wave of immense panic would spread wantonly through the crowd.
Dust fell ceaselessly from the mottled factory roof, and the choking smell of mold and particulates made it almost impossible to breathe.
Until, gradually, the roars of battle weakened, and the screams of agony faded into dead silence.
They heard the sound of heavy footsteps outside the factory gate, drawing closer and closer, each step seeming to pound on their very hearts.
Countless pairs of fear-filled eyes stared intently at the rusted iron gate, the terror of an unknown death infinitely magnified in this moment.
They couldn’t predict whether it would be the Defense Army that appeared outside the gate, or the bloodthirsty invaders...
When the chain securing the iron gate was effortlessly snapped, the firelight from outside flooded the dim factory, forcing them to squeeze their eyes shut.
But in their blurred vision.
They saw a tall, imposing figure standing just outside the factory gate.
The soldiers of the Defense Army, who fought for this world and for their protection, knelt on both sides of this figure.
The corpses of thousands upon thousands of invaders formed a carpet at his feet. The world burned and crumbled behind him. The head of a raider knight, crushed in his hand, still retained a flicker of consciousness, its expression twisted in agony.
A low voice reached their ears.
It was grim and cold, yet like the Divine Emperor’s Gospel, it was so inspiring in this desperate moment that it made them feel profoundly safe.
"I have cleared all enemies along the way. Defense Army, cover the civilians’ retreat to the Upper City District."
After saying this.
The tall figure walked into the factory.
At that moment, the refugees hiding there gradually got a clear look at him. His black, shoulder-length hair, soaked in blood, was matted behind his head. His body, beneath coarse linen clothes, was covered in battle scars.
The massive Black War Axe, whose sheer size was suffocatingly oppressive to behold, was caked with bits of flesh and clotted blood.
His face was iron-willed and cold.
The Knight’s Mighty Power manifested as an invisible pressure, carrying with it the bloody aura of slaughter, as if one of the Divine Emperor’s Vengeful Angels had descended before them.
In the eyes of mortals, this grim and oppressive aura was also solemn and sacred.
If, in the eyes of his enemies and of heretics, Reinhardt’s existence was like that of a human demon or a bloody butcher, then in the eyes of mortals and believers of the Divine Emperor, he was the true incarnation of the Divine Emperor’s Fury!
The pain of all the mortals who had died in this great slaughter.
The fury of all the mortals who had lost their loved ones.
The courage of the Defense Army fighting to their last drop of blood.
In that moment, his very existence seemed to be the incarnation of the fiery wrath born from the suffering of this world’s people.
Reinhardt faced the civilians of the Desolate Wasteland Ruins—the desperate expressions of those who yearned to live, the terror-filled eyes of women and children, the tragic fury of the able-bodied men who were already prepared to fight to the death.
Even though he had never believed in the Divine Emperor.
