Chapter 383 - 346: Besieged by Formidable Enemies

As Franz bent down to pick up his Knight’s Broadsword.

Two more ships broke through the Avenger Flagship’s artillery fire, smashing straight into the hangar bay doors—the weakest point of the hull. The Avenger Flagship was instantly rocked by a violent tremor.

Lu Jia and her three companions, the weakest of the group, struggled to stay on their feet, bracing themselves against a wall to keep their balance.

Thick smoke billowed upwards.

A blinding, dark-red glow burst through the window, transforming into a raging sea of fire that completely engulfed the outer corridor!

Lu Jia turned to the window on her left, her pupils contracting to pinpricks. A boarding party of six rebel Knights had kicked open their ship’s hatch and landed heavily on the deck of the Avenger Flagship’s hangar!

"Sir!"

Urus’s expression darkened. His body seemed to melt into flowing wind, vanishing silently from the spot as he tossed a few words back at them.

"This is not a battle you can handle. Take the two rebels and return to the bridge immediately. The intelligence in their memories is crucial for us."

The Avenger Flagship was now trapped in a distant orbit around Cyrenaica, surrounded by rebel fleets.

But the first wave of the Rebel Suppression Army was still seven hours away. In other words, they had to find a way to break through the enemy’s tight blockade and get a message out within those seven hours.

If they fell here, a devastating catastrophe would await the Rebel Suppression Army.

And Cyrenaica World would become a graveyard for the tens of millions of soldiers in that army.

This plan—to transmit the intelligence at all costs within seven hours—was a decision he and Koller had made in a short amount of time, and it had already received Reinhardt’s approval.

The first step of this plan was to capture prisoners alive, extract the vast amounts of intelligence about military deployments from their memories, and use it to support subsequent operational planning.

There was also the strange Spiritual Tide enveloping Cyrenaica World.

One thing was certain: Cyrenaica World must hold undiscovered Ancient Wizard Ruins that the Mechanical Order had not yet found. To win this war, obtaining intelligence on this matter was also of utmost importance.

Lu Jia understood the importance of her mission.

She didn’t hesitate. She gathered her people, pushed open the storage room door, and, in pairs, they lifted the two half-dead rebels and sprinted toward the bridge.

Meanwhile, Franz, who had been plunged into despair, suddenly let out a cold laugh. He took a step back, joining up with the members of two other boarding parties who had arrived as reinforcements.

"Franz."

Hearing the familiar voice behind him, Thunderlight Battle Commander Franz replied coldly, "See that man? He’s the one we’re here to kill: the Great Tutor of Vengeful, Reinhardt."

The rebel Knights who boarded after him obviously knew what kind of person Franz was.

For a Knight Warlord who had spent his entire life chasing power and status to halt his advance, giving up the chance to hog all the glory just to wait for them, clearly meant one thing: their assassination target was extraordinarily powerful.

However, even with the Slaughter Knife at his throat, Franz’s greedy heart still clung to the fantasy of stepping over his colleagues’ corpses, killing Reinhardt, and taking all the credit for himself.

He deliberately said nothing about the presence of the Child of the Night Demon, holding it back as a bargaining chip to seize potential benefits.

As he spoke, the six rebel Knights turned their heads in unison to look at Reinhardt, who stood alone at the end of the corridor. The dark-red firelight from the window cast flickering, shifting shadows on their Armor.

At that moment, a terrifying, deathly silence fell over the corridor.

Reinhardt, holding his War Axe, took a step forward.

But this simple, unadorned movement caused Franz’s body to tremble. His hands gripped his sword hilt so tightly that the metal and leather CREAKED.

His right leg even took an uncontrolled half-step back.

The six rebel Knights who boarded as reinforcements were split into two teams, each with the same composition as Franz’s own: one Four-star Earth Knight leading two Personal Guards of Six-star Official Military Rank.

The two Earth Knights leading the reinforcements noticed Franz’s fearful retreat and both frowned.

According to their intelligence, the Great Tutor of Vengeful, Reinhardt, was at the Peak of Four-Star Earth Military Rank. He was also suspected of possessing Domain Power, though this was yet to be confirmed.

Because no one would believe that an Imperial Knight’s power could grow so rapidly.

Especially not *that* particular power—the Domain Power. It was a great chasm separating the strong Earth Knights from the truly supreme, a gulf that countless Earth Knights failed to cross in their lifetimes.

If it was only the former—his rank—they were fully confident they could kill Reinhardt, even if it meant paying a heavy price.

As long as the Great Tutor of Vengeful died here, the war waged against them by the Grand Governor’s faction would fall into chaos and disorder due to the loss of its command structure.

And gaining this precious time—time that would allow them to smash through the Administrative Region’s defensive lines, occupy the capital world of Iberia, and ultimately seize power—was the true reason they had to kill Reinhardt here, no matter the cost!

The Earth Knight standing to Franz’s right was the first to act. His unique Destruction Force Field transformed into a massive Gravity Field that bent the light around his body.

This was Knight General Daqi, personally appointed by the Old Empire Regency Council, a Four-star Earth Knight and one of the powerful Knight Warlords of the Ash Soil Star Zone.