Chapter 58: Chapter 46: The Little People When the Monstrous Wave Comes

The young Knight, Maxim, climbed the city wall.

When the shrieks of Scaya’s Red Dragon Cavalry tore through the sky overhead, their dense formations blotted out the sun, casting a massive shadow.

When the Scaya Dragon Race Army, a boundless tide stretching as far as the eye could see, kicked up a colossal dust storm and surged across the Empire Border.

When a destructive wave of fire rained down from the sky, turning the vast grasslands of the Northern Lands into scorched earth.

Perhaps, at a time like this, he could comfort himself. ’Imperial reinforcements will be here any moment. A third-rate Battle Group like ours just needs to lay low and protect ourselves, and we can survive this grand war.’

But the roars of the Knights and the whistle of spears flying past his ears forced him to face reality.

Maxim didn’t understand politics, much less conspiracies and schemes.

To him, a Knight’s glory felt more like some lofty, unrealistic lie spun by important people.

Cold sweat trickled down his cheek and dripped onto the ground. Faced with the overwhelming assault of the Scaya Dragon Race Army, the courage of this young Knight from the Blood Corps had long been replaced by fear.

Only one thought filled the young Knight’s mind: ’I’m just a New Recruit Knight from a Mercenary Corps. Even if I run... no one would care, right?’

He watched as Heinrich put on his Dark Gold Dragon Bone Helmet again, raised his arm, and roared, "For the Empire! For the glory of the Dragon Hunter Battle Group!" Then he leaped from the wall, a lone figure charging into the enemy ranks like a human war machine, ignoring the crushing pressure of the Scaya Dragon Race Army.

He watched as Reinhardt leaped high into the air, brutally dragged down a member of the Red Dragon Cavalry, crushed the Dragon Descendant’s jaw with his bare hands, and stomped the massive head of the Fiery Flame Red Dragon into pulp, looking like a terrifying God of Slaughter.

A right hand landed on his shoulder, yanking his thoughts back from his unrealistic fantasies to reality.

"Stay with me. Don’t go off on your own."

Maxim shuddered and hurried to catch up.

He was already drenched in sweat. He asked frantically, "Captain, aren’t we falling back? I don’t remember our mercenary contract requiring us to fight the Scaya Dragon Race Army head-on."

Dietlinde frowned and shot him a look.

’Doubt is understandable, but his fear is unconcealed. This is a disgrace to a Knight!’

War wasn’t a game.

She was the captain of the Iron Blood Battle Group’s Ninth Tactical Squad, but her duty wasn’t to babysit her subordinates. If Maxim weren’t a New Recruit Knight with less than a year of service, she wouldn’t have bothered explaining a single word.

"The Empire’s summons is supreme, Maxim. Ready your weapon and don’t fall behind."

"What about Reinhardt?"

"He has earned the right to act alone."

The cold, merciless reply left Maxim speechless.

Dietlinde didn’t understand what terrible upheaval was happening among the Empire’s leadership, but from the moment they heard the holy summons, they had thrown their lot in completely with the former Lord of the Empire, the Supreme Radiant Knight Ludwig.

Her steps were hurried. Her Armor and the scabbard hanging at her waist clanked against each other, making a dull sound that matched her heavy heart.

It was foreseeable that a dark war, one unlike any seen in a thousand years—a war that could shake the Empire to its very foundations—was about to erupt Within the Empire.

If everything Lord Heinrich said was true, this was no ordinary power struggle or fraternal strife. It meant a faction of the Empire’s high command had completely sided with the Abyssal Demons!

This wasn’t a dispute over legitimacy between the Empire’s rulers! This was a war for the very survival of the entire Human Empire!

The Regent Council and the current Lord of the Empire, Karloman, in their pursuit of eternal power and rule, had colluded with the Abyss, plotted to destroy the Radiant Holy Sword, and schemed to kill the former Lord of the Empire, Ludwig.

For a century, they had spared no effort to secretly corrupt the Imperial State Church and the main Legions, abandoning the thousand-year glory of the Human Empire to worship the Abyssal Lord Avernus and the Demon Grand Lord!

Just hearing this news made every inch of Dietlinde’s skin tremble—not from fear or cowardice, but from a towering rage born of the merciless betrayal of the Empire’s honor and a Knight’s glory by its current ruling class!

In the death vortex of Pisces Sandi, that horrific meat grinder against the Abyssal Demons, tens of thousands of the Empire’s most loyal soldiers and Knights fearlessly sacrificed their lives every day!

But who would have ever thought.

That the Lord of the Empire who once swore his Knight’s oath before the Radiant Holy Image, the Regent Council that governed the Empire’s vast territories, and even the National Church Priests who held the Great Unity Scripture and were renowned for their absolute loyalty...

...had all turned to humanity’s greatest historical enemy: the Abyssal Demons.

Faced with the Radiant Empire, a behemoth whose domain spanned tens of thousands of worlds, they were less than a single leaf in the monstrous wave about to crash over the entire Empire.

But Dietlinde’s heart never wavered. For a thousand years, the rule of the Radiant Empire had been built upon the corpses of countless Knights and Mortal Soldiers.

If this rebellion was truly as Heinrich described, then regardless of what others chose, she was willing to accept the holy summons of the former Lord of the Empire.

For the Empire, for the Human World, for the glory and Loyalty of a Knight.

Even if she was branded a traitor, death would be a small price to pay!

She had once fantasized about winning over Reinhardt, becoming his wife, and living a peaceful life away from war and death.

But in the end, that was just an unrealistic fantasy.

She was a Third-class Knight belonging to the Iron Blood Battle Group, a minor character not even worth mentioning by the bigwigs.

But she was also a noble Imperial Knight!

Who had once knelt before the Radiant Holy Image and sworn a sacred Knight’s oath!

Following a brief discussion between Battle Group Commander Fei Ning and Heinrich, the Iron Blood Battle Group would join the Dragon Fire Barrier Knight Order, one of the three participating Knight Orders, to defend Baihe Town. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Heinrich’s Dark Gold Blood Knights and the other unit, the Spirit Bone Knight Order, would lead their troops out of the town to engage the enemy.

However, when Fei Ning brought up the matter of support from the Death Battle Group during his consultation with Heinrich, the Earth Knight told him bluntly to give up on that idea.

The Death Battle Group was one of the main Battle Groups of the Seventh Group.

It was also the army directly commanded by Karloman, Lord of the Empire and former Imperial Regent.

Rather than providing support, the Death Battle Group was more likely coming to annihilate them, the so-called "Imperial Rebel Army."

Fei Ning’s bald head was now covered in beads of cold sweat. Although he was in charge of the Battle Group, his political acumen was not much better than Maxim’s—which is to say, he was an idiot in that department.

When it came to fighting and taking the blame, he was a loyal enough Knight, but his mind clearly wasn’t equipped to handle these intricate struggles.

’Lord Sedon was the deputy commander of the Death Battle Group,’ he thought. ’He was my old superior. Surely, he wouldn’t set me up to be harmed, right?’

In any case, it was death either way. Fei Ning decided not to waste any more brain cells on the problem.

However, if he managed to leave Baihe Town alive, he wasn’t just going to declare independence from the Blood Corps. He was going to personally whip up a giant pile of shit and mail it to the Corps Headquarters!

Sending them here to die for no reason—those sons of bitches—!