The long street was choked with piles of rubble.

A great river of Mortal Soldiers, a torrent of flesh and blood, surged past them, their war cries shaking the heavens.

A battle was about to erupt.

But the Knights only spread out in silence, maintaining their distance from Reinhardt as they cut off his retreat.

At the same time, one Knight produced a Radiant Beacon. His voice was steady and deep.

"Wolf Pack One has made contact with the target. Requesting backup."

For Knights of the same tier, the intensity of their Power wouldn’t vary too greatly unless there was a massive disparity in their Military Rank Level.

Even with the loss of one man, a tactical squad of nine Five-star Military Rank Elite Knights, especially one comprised of battle-hardened veterans with a high degree of tactical synergy, wouldn’t be taking too great a risk to kill a Six-star Military Rank Knight.

However, this squad’s caution was extraordinary, a stark contrast to the impulsive team Reinhardt had encountered before.

As the Wolf Pack Knights, an elite tactical formation of the Raider Battle Group, every member was a formidable veteran who had fought in the Ash Soil Star Zone for a century. Thus, they knew full well that in this world, the strength of a Divine Chosen Knight could not be judged by their Military Rank Level on paper alone.

Grand Lord Kles had informed them before they departed that the target very likely possessed a Radiant Holy Artifact bestowed by the Divine Emperor and was a newly risen Empire’s Chosen One.

Against such a being, even if they had never heard of Reinhardt’s name, they would still meticulously plan their tactics before the fight: find the target, pin him down, and finally, complete the execution.

Simple, but effective.

As they assessed their target and considered their tactics, Reinhardt was assessing them in turn.

The Knights dispatched by Grand Lord Kles to attack the Desolate Wasteland Ruins all wore Anti-Magic Steel Armor with a uniform, dark yellow paint job.

But this ten-man squad’s Armor, decorations, and paint job were partially different from the other Knights. Their pauldrons were inlaid with decorations of metallic, glistening wolf heads, and a white vertical stripe was painted down the center of their Full Coverage Helmets.

The blades of their Knight’s Broadswords were enveloped in a pale blue Energy Force Field, and they were equipped with Power Backpacks.

Every member was at the Five-star Military Rank, elite veterans who possessed the Attributeless Destruction Force Field.

Most importantly.

After he had erupted and cut down one of their members, the marks of Steel of the Heart, which he had not seen for a very long time, were lighting up on these Elite Knights one by one.

’Every single one of them has the combat capability of a hero unit!’

When the Mortal armies completely bypassed them and crashed into each other, weapons clashed and flesh flew.

When the dark red marks of Steel of the Heart were fully stacked...

Reinhardt moved.

The Aikacia Nozzle switched to its high-pressure air bladder mode. The instant his figure vanished, the ground beneath his feet erupted in a cloud of gravel and dust as spiderweb-like cracks spread in every direction.

The highly compressed gas created a vacuum in his wake.

Had it been a Knight of ordinary strength, the War Axe would have been buried in his chest by the time he even realized Reinhardt had vanished.

But at this moment...

The century-old veterans of the Wolf Pack tactical squad were another matter. Not only could their optic nerves barely keep up with Reinhardt’s speed, but the Knight under attack—his body already coiled tight—reacted just in time.

His expression sank. He gripped his sword with both hands, the Energy Force Field constructed from his Knight Power surging outward like a burning blue flame. His left Steel Boot shot back, digging into the ground as his Broadsword and Knightly Physique became one. He chose to meet the attack head-on, bracing to receive Reinhardt’s terrifying strike—a blow powerful enough to kill a hybrid Scaya Dragonfolk warrior!

As their Knight Powers collided, kicking up a monstrous gale, the sonic boom from Reinhardt’s high-pressure air bladder finally reached the other Knights’ ears.

BOOM—!

In that instant, time seemed to slow.

The eyes of the ambushed Knight met Reinhardt’s at point-blank range. Feeling the immense pressure transmitted through his Broadsword, his pupils contracted violently and his face twisted. Internally, he was reeling in utter shock!

’The target Knight is no ordinary Six-star Military Rank!’

’An Empire’s Chosen One... What terrifying Knight Power—!’

If he hadn’t been completely focused, channeling his Destruction Force Field with all his might, and if the Energy Sword Blade of his Knight’s Broadsword hadn’t been augmented by the Witchcraft Technology provided by his Power Backpack...

...that simple, unadorned axe strike would have been enough to shatter his defenses and cut him down where he stood!

Even now...

...at this moment, he could clearly see Reinhardt’s cold, merciless face and the dark purple living matter on his body.

’An Extraordinary Armament?’

A Knight’s speed of thought and neural reaction time were far beyond what any Mortal could imagine.

This flood of information and the shock at Reinhardt’s strength all took place in a single instant of real time.

However, when the Knight felt the feedback of High-Frequency Oscillation and Low-Frequency Shock through his Knight’s Broadsword, his expression changed drastically. ’Imperial Technology?! Not good—!’

But it was too late to escape.

CRACK—!

The sound of snapping metal was crisp and clear. He tried to retreat, to dodge; the Knight’s formidable Physique and instinctive reflexes were already forcing him into an evasive maneuver.

But his terrified eyes could only watch helplessly as the heavy, enormous Black War Axe—as plain as a door slab—smashed through everything in its path! 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

It snapped his Broadsword, crushed his Mighty Power, tore open his Anti-Magic Steel Armor, and hacked savagely into his body!

When Reinhardt had ambushed and killed the Wolf Elite Knight Gaspar with a single blow, he (this knight) had already received intelligence regarding the target’s incredible speed and strength.

But this information was completely different from what he knew of other Extraordinary Armaments with their weird and wonderful abilities.

Reinhardt’s Special Abilities were laid bare before him with nothing concealed, making it obvious how he should be countered.

However, backed by the enemy’s terrifying power, these simple Special Abilities became an overt plot they were powerless to resist! It was an absolute disparity in strength! A chasm of death that no amount of skill or experience could bridge!

His powerful optic nerves allowed him to clearly see everything happening to him in that instant—the War Axe’s enormous blade tearing through his Steel Armor and plunging into his chest.

He could feel the flesh of his chest being ripped apart, his ribs snapping one by one to pierce his heart and lungs.

He wanted to relay this crucial, life-or-death intelligence to his teammates, to tell them to avoid battle for now and not throw their lives away senselessly. But as the Giant Axe buried itself completely in his chest, the Imperial Technology shattered his heart and spine, taking his words with them.

The light instantly vanished from the Knight’s eyes, his massive body slumping limply over the Black War Axe.

And at that very moment...

...a crisp sound that Reinhardt hadn’t heard in twelve years rang in his ears.

DING—.

[Giant Devouring Current Layer Number: 3740]

[Physical Enhancement Coefficient: 3.740]

The upper limit to his physique provided by sixty-five stacks of Steel of the Heart was but a trickle, minutely increasing the intensity of Reinhardt’s Mighty Power.

But many years ago, when Reinhardt was only at a Four-star Military Rank, he had already crushed the Ash Guard Matthias, who was worth eighty stacks of Steel of the Heart.

These Knights, worth sixty-five stacks of Steel of the Heart, were no different from Mortals before the current Reinhardt, even if they were elites.

When he yanked the Knight’s corpse from the massive axehead of the Black Cutter, spilling blood and viscera all over the ground, the faces of the other Wolf Pack Knights who were trying to encircle him all changed drastically!