Shield of the Rose

As a remote second-rate small city, Glasslovar had never been in the public eye. It was only a few months ago, when the Varedin staged a feigned attack here and successfully drew attention, that people realized such a city even existed.

But now, Glasslovar had once again become a focal point.

The Varedin Empire’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted swiftly. Although they hadn’t yet investigated what the attack was all about, the diplomats had already pinned the blame on the Monstoke Republic. Not only did they lodge a strong protest, but they also threatened retaliatory action.

The negotiations that had originally begun naturally came to a halt.

The situation on the front lines suddenly became extremely tense.

The military also sprang into action immediately.

All roads leading to Monstoke were blockaded, and search teams were dispatched.

At the same time, a formidable military investigation team was rapidly dispatched to Glasslovar.

At this moment, there were only two places worth inspecting: one was the blown-up mountain peak, and the other was the battlefield at the foot of the mountain.

Knight of Honor Anderson was a member of this investigation team. Most of the time, he just watched from the sidelines. Only when inspecting the damaged Magitech Armor and the corpses of the dead Knights did he appear exceptionally focused.

From the damage to the Magitech Armor and the methods of killing, he indeed deduced some things. He had fought against Squad 105 and was intimately familiar with the combat skills of several of its members, especially Lina’s “War Wave” and Dana’s “Lightning Arts,” which had left a very deep impression on him.

The shattered giant shield easily brought to mind Dana’s unstoppable attacks, and a wave-shaped crater left on the battlefield made him think of the “War Wave.” However, Anderson could not make a definitive judgment.

Because the person who left these traces was far stronger than the female Knights he knew of.

When they fought back then, Lina had already been on the verge of a breakthrough. But in his mind, even if Lina became an Ace Knight shortly after escaping, a mere few months would at most be enough to stabilize her realm.

But the crater he saw before him could only have been made by an Ace Knight who had at least reached the middle or late stages.

He didn’t believe someone could increase their strength so much in such a short period of time.

“Found any clues?”

An officer who looked about Anderson’s age strolled over.

“What about on your end?”

Anderson didn’t answer, but asked a question in return.

The man walking over was Anderson’s good friend, Martin Gustav, who belonged to Military Intelligence.

“That group did a clean job. They didn’t leave a single clue.”

Martin complained with a bitter face, “Instant kills, no unnecessary traces left behind, and they took all the recording devices. The only things left are these indentations on the ground.”

“Is there any record of this kind of light infantry transport? Which country made it?”

Anderson quickly asked.

Martin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They had originally intended to start from this angle as well, but after a group of experts studied those indentations, they came up with an unexpected result.

“That road is a dead end.”

Martin smiled bitterly, “We’ve already checked those tracks. Want to know the result?”

Was there even a need to ask? Anderson looked at his good friend and raised his fist.

“Don’t be so rough!”

Martin couldn’t stand it, “Even if you know the result, it’s useless. It’s ‘Einherjar’ and ‘Valkyrie’, but both have been specially modified.”

Anderson suddenly fell silent. He finally understood why his old friend said it was useless.

“It seems we can only hope to catch them.”

Although he said this, Anderson didn’t think the probability was very high. Judging from the traces at the scene, that squad was extremely strong. There were at least two Ace Knights among them, and whether there were other Ace Knights, he couldn’t be sure.

“I hope we can succeed. The frontline corps has already dispatched all the Knights of Honor.”

Martin’s thoughts were similar to Anderson’s.

There really wasn’t a good way to deal with such an elite squad. If they sent ordinary Knight squads, they might be able to intercept that squad, but intercepting them would just be sending them to their deaths. So they could only send Knights of Honor. But how many Knights of Honor were there? In the entire Varedin Empire, all the Knights of Honor added up to just over a hundred. Even if a few other countries sent some Knights of Honor as support, there were still only around one hundred and fifty in total.

Being able to dispatch twenty Knights of Honor to the western front was already the limit. And for twenty Knights of Honor to try and intercept that squad… Martin felt that the odds were about the same as a blind cat catching a dead mouse.

Currently, Squad 105 was traversing through the towering mountains and ridges.

Since they already had the items, there was no need to rush. To confuse their pursuers, Calli laid false trails along the way. They would often travel a certain distance before turning back and fleeing in a different direction. To shake off tracking, they also frequently zigzagged through rivers, because once they entered the water, all traces would disappear, and the trackers could only search along the river, which greatly increased their workload.

After several consecutive days, the pursuers behind them were thrown further and further away, but the energy crystals in the trailer were also dwindling.

“If we keep going like this, we can travel another four hundred kilometers or so.”

Randy issued a warning.

“That should be enough. We’re only a little over a hundred kilometers from the border, and this area is uninhabited. The nearest town is about eighty kilometers away. Crossing the border from here shouldn’t be a problem.”

Calli had already formulated a plan long ago.

“There will definitely be people guarding the border.”

Trisli wasn’t as optimistic as Calli.

“The Varedin can’t spread their forces completely thin, but they might send a Knight of Honor squad. One Knight of Honor, three Ace Knights, two to three Recon Knights, and possibly a few ordinary Knights on top of that. This is the force we’re most likely to encounter.”

Calli analyzed, keeping her eyes fixed on Trisli.

Trisli was smart enough to immediately understand Calli’s meaning, “If we really run into a Knight of Honor, I will do my best to stall him.”

“We’ll use our old method.”

Calli said, “Merlin will be responsible for stalling one Ace Knight, and the other two will be left to Dana and Lina. We’ll take out the others as fast as possible, and then finish off one of the Ace Knights.”

No one said anything. This seemed to be the only viable plan.

But everyone secretly prayed that they wouldn’t have to resort to it.

“Sleep now. Once we’re fully rested, we’ll set off at night.”

Calli made the final decision.

Although sounds carried further at night and they were more easily discovered, once discovered, it would be difficult for the enemy to pinpoint their location, and even harder to catch up to them.

Sleeping was easy. Even during the day, even without a trace of sleepiness, Knights could force themselves to fall asleep quickly. However, Richie couldn’t sleep; he had to stand guard.

This job originally belonged to Nora, but for tonight’s operation, Nora had to be in peak condition, so he had to step in and take on the task.

The resting place was completely hidden. It was a riverbank flanked by dense woods. Aside from the woods near the river, there were also clumps of reeds. People outside would absolutely not be able to see them. He only needed to prick up his ears and listen to the movements around them.

In just a moment, the female Knights had all fallen asleep, and Richie felt extremely bored.

He turned off his visual systems, plunging his vision into darkness.

This was based on his experience. When his cousin played with him, she always blindfolded him. Back then, the sensations in other parts of his body would become exceptionally sharp.

In his ears was the babbling sound of flowing water, the rustling of reeds rubbing together, and the soft murmuring of wind blowing through leaves.

These sounds constantly changed, never exactly the same, yet so monotonous. Richie felt a sense of drowsiness.

To keep himself from falling asleep, he circulated his Recon Knight Arts.

Strands of Aura slowly circulated and finally gathered below his forehead, at the position of his pineal gland. He immediately felt the surrounding sounds become clear and noisy, the only issue being a slight swelling sensation in his forehead.

This was his second time observing the world with his ears.

At first, he felt the sounds around him were very chaotic, like countless mosquitoes buzzing around. But gradually, he realized those sounds weren’t entirely disordered.

Richie slowly turned his helmet. The listening device installed on his Magitech Armor was very sensitive to direction, so with a slight turn, everything he heard immediately became different.

Unconsciously, a faint smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

An image gradually formed in his mind. It wasn’t the familiar world seen with eyes, but a hazy world composed of sounds.

In this world, there was no sky and no earth, because they didn’t make sounds. But the reeds and woods were vaguely visible because they emitted different sounds, but the clearest of all were the usually invisible wind and flowing river.

He had never noticed before that the flow of river water was so complex. The surface, the middle, and the bottom of the river were actually distinctly separate, flowing according to their own rules. The wind was the same, orderly yet chaotic.

At dusk, everyone woke from their deep slumber, and they all felt a bit hungry.

They weren’t short on food; it was military emergency rations packed in sealed cans. A piece the size of a palm was enough to make a Knight feel full, though the taste was nothing to write home about.

After dinner, everyone rested for a while and took the opportunity to replace all the used energy crystals. Since a battle was possible, they naturally had to be in peak condition.

As the sky gradually darkened, they finally set out.

A distance of over a hundred kilometers really wasn’t very long for them traveling at full speed.

But just about halfway there, someone stopped.

This time, the one who stopped wasn’t Nora, who was clearing the path ahead, but Randy, who was in the middle of the formation.

“There’s a scanning sensation. We’ve been discovered.”

Randy didn’t care about communication silence anymore. Since they were already exposed, there was nothing to hide.

“Damn it, there’s actually a Psion. Can an equipment vehicle even drive into a hellhole like this?”

Lina cursed angrily.

No one answered her.

Calli hurriedly issued orders, “The plan must be changed. Randy, Richie, you two are responsible for finding the scanning device and that Psion, and dealing with them. Everyone else prepare for battle according to the original plan. Nora, take a look around, where is the terrain advantageous to us?”

Hearing the order, Richie was momentarily stunned. He had never been assigned an independent mission before.

It was hard to say what would happen on an independent mission. With good luck, it would be easy to find the scanning device, kill the person, and leave. With bad luck, the place might be a trap.

But right now, there was no room for choice.

The two quickly left the squad, moving along a mountain ridge toward the direction the scanning beams were shooting from.

Randy was the only one who could sense the scanning beams, so she naturally walked in front, with Richie closely following. But he wasn’t idle either; the most important thing in night operations was spotting the enemy first. When Nora wasn’t around, he, this fake Recon Knight, had to take on Nora’s role.

The night was very dark, and it was impossible to see much. Richie simply turned off his visual systems. Anyway, he could rely on the vibrations of the ground to sense the conditions beneath his feet, and he could also perceive the direction Randy was moving in, so he absolutely wouldn’t lose track of her.

The moment the visual systems were turned off, his other senses immediately became much sharper. Originally, he could only detect conditions within four meters of his feet, but now it expanded to seven meters, and the sounds he heard became clearer.

Suddenly, Richie felt as if he was being stared at by something. It was an indescribable feeling, but it vanished in a flash.

Immediately after, he heard a burst of extremely heavy footsteps. The footsteps were far away; he estimated at least five kilometers away.

With his strength, he naturally couldn’t determine the direction. He just had a feeling that the footsteps weren’t heading toward him.

Secretly breathing a sigh of relief, Richie then realized that Randy had run far ahead, and he hurriedly quickened his pace to catch up.

The effective range of the scanning device was a radius of twenty kilometers. As they got closer, Richie’s heart grew more and more tense, and he turned his visual systems back on.

He couldn’t see much in the dark night. Before his eyes were only continuous undulating black shadows, which were vast, boundless mountains. The black shadow right in front was the tallest; it seemed the scanning device was set up on the peak of this highest mountain.

Setting up a scanning device on a mountain peak was indeed a common practice. Standing high always allowed one to see far.

Just as he was about to climb the mountain, Richie again felt as if he was being stared at, but this time the oppressive feeling wasn’t as strong as before.

“Don’t move, there’s someone up there.”

Richie stopped Miss Randy’s movements.

With a Clang, he drew his Knight Blade. Its sharp edge reflected the moonlight, casting a cold gleam.

Randy also drew her weapons. Like Richie in the past, she only needed to protect herself, so the development path everyone designed for her was also as a Defender. Her weapons were a pair of cross-shield swords, which were essentially large shields with four sword points.

The feeling of being watched was still there, but he couldn’t hear any movement. This reminded him of Nora.

Nora was like a venomous snake slithering through the grass, always avoiding the enemy’s line of sight and hiding in blind spots. If she didn’t strike, so be it, but once she struck, she would claim a life.

The combat style of all Recon Knights was like this.

Just thinking that there was at least one venomous snake hiding in the shadows ahead made Richie’s hair stand on end.

Fortunately, he had learned quite a lot from Nora.

In nature, snakes had many natural enemies, the most famous being the eagle.

Eagles relied on lightning-fast speed to catch snakes.

With the fingers of his left hand ready to press the activation button of the energy accumulation device at any moment, Richie flew toward the mountain peak. His movements were exceptionally erratic, his footsteps never following a straight line, like an arc of electricity, constantly twisting and turning.

Suddenly, Richie heard a soft sound by his ear. Not only was there the sound of plants being trampled and gravel rolling, but also a sharp, swift sound of wind.

Formless and intangible wind should originally be invisible and elusive, but Richie happened to “capture” it with his ears.

Richie’s body turned sideways and “cut” into the edge of that wind. He couldn’t guarantee success because he had only just grasped how to use his ears to perceive the world and hadn’t practiced it thoroughly.

There was no sound, and the air resistance was extremely low. It was indeed an air gap formed by turbulence.

Richie’s body spun bizarrely, instantly dodging the enemy’s surprise attack.

While dodging, he had already launched a counterattack. Richie’s Knight Blade had been held flat the whole time, and as he dodged, he smoothly swiped it across.

He didn’t use any strength, just a casual swipe. How he managed to deliver such a strike, even Richie himself didn’t know. He just felt that doing so would definitely yield results.

Because the speed was too fast, the Knight Blade bent under its own weight, taking on the shape of a saber.

That slash was incredibly swift, unleashed and retracted in an instant, but it left a dim arc of light in the spot it had just passed.

The cold arc of light was like a crescent moon.

The moment the arc of light flashed, it gave a feeling of silence, as if everything had frozen. But in the blink of an eye, that feeling of silence disappeared as the arc of light crashed into a black shadow.

With a Clang, the black shadow fell to the ground.

Right at this moment, Richie suddenly heard Randy’s scream. Without time to think, he leaped into the air and plunged down the mountain.

Randy’s strength was very poor, so she was very self-aware and didn’t follow behind Richie to join the fray, even hiding herself in a sunken trench.

It was precisely for this reason that she had managed to hold out until now.

The one attacking her was also a Recon Knight. Although the attacks were exceptionally ruthless, the power was very limited.

Although Randy’s training time was short and she didn’t have time to practice normally, there was no complexity to defensive moves anyway. Aside from blocking, it was more blocking. So she used her two cross-shield swords to protect herself tightly.

When a venomous snake met a tortoise, the result was easy to imagine.

Seeing that he couldn’t break through after attacking for a long time, the Recon Knight immediately dodged and darted into the darkness. He hadn’t forgotten that there were two people on this side as well.

Suddenly, the Recon Knight raised his head; he felt something above him.

Just as he realized things were bad, a black shadow plummeted down towards him. The Recon Knight simply didn’t have time to dodge before a foot slammed into his shoulder.

Only a loud Bang was heard as the Recon Knight was kicked to the ground, his Magitech Armor, weighing hundreds of kilograms, gouging a deep trench seven or eight meters long in the earth.

Before he could stand up, a cold arc of light gently swept past.

With only a Swish, everything returned to tranquility.

Although he had killed two enemies in succession, Richie didn’t dare relax in the slightest, because he didn’t know how many enemies were left.

“That Psion is on the mountain, I’ve found him. He seems to be running away.”

Randy shouted continuously from her spot.

“Be careful on your own.”

After tossing out these words, Richie turned and ran toward the mountain. If that Psion hadn’t run, he wouldn’t have dared to act recklessly, but the fact that the Psion chose to flee proved that there were only two bodyguards here.

As he ran, Richie folded the wings on his back. This thing was made of a steel frame and specially treated leather. Initially, it was installed so he could jump down from places over a hundred meters high. Later during practice, he found it could be used for short-distance gliding, and he hadn’t expected it to actually come in handy now.

There were several tents on the mountaintop, but the most conspicuous thing was a wooden pole erected there. The pole was as thick as a bowl and over ten meters high, with a circular disk perched on top.

Richie casually swiped his Knight Blade, and the bowl-thick wooden pole was immediately sliced cleanly through. The circular disk on top fell to the ground with a Clang. He walked over and stomped on it, leaving a footprint on the disk.

It seemed this thing could never be used again.

Richie turned to look at a spot fifty meters away, where a person was sliding down the hillside. It was unclear if he had slipped or was doing it intentionally.

He didn’t chase after him, but instead picked up the circular disk from the ground, balanced it flat on his hand, and threw it with force.

The disk spun rapidly as it flew out.

A scream instantly rang out on the hillside; it was the voice of a middle-aged man.

“Why destroy the scanning device? Wouldn’t it have been better to bring it to me?”

Randy’s reprimand made Richie unable to lift his head. He only just realized he had done something stupid, but unfortunately, it was too late to regret it.

“Let’s hurry back, they might need my help over there.”

Richie quickly found an excuse, but he immediately thought of another problem, “Do you know their current location?”

“If they’ve already engaged the enemy, they’ll be very easy to find.”

Randy turned and headed back along the way they came, following the direction in her memory.

Richie wasn’t in a hurry to follow. He walked to the side of the Recon Knight at the foot of the mountain and turned on his headlight to illuminate the scene.

There was only a single scar on the surface of the Magitech Armor, very thin and shallow, as if it had been accidentally scratched.

Kicking open the front hatch, he found a very young woman lying inside, looking at most around twenty years old. This woman was quite beautiful, and it was a bit of a pity that she died like this.

But Richie didn’t feel any pity. This was a time of war, this was a battlefield, and the young woman before him was an enemy. If he didn’t kill her, he would be killed by her.

This woman was also wearing a combat suit, but it was just made of ordinary cloth. There was a tear on her chest, as if it had been slashed by an extremely sharp razor, the cut smooth and neat.

The combat suit was red, so it was impossible to see the blood on it, but after gently parting the torn area, a deep wound could be seen. Her fair chest was covered in blood. Judging from the rapid fatality, it must have directly damaged her internal organs.

Richie recalled that slash just now.

He himself felt it was somewhat inexplicable, not knowing how he unleashed that strike.

And the power of this move absolutely shocked him.

Although the defense of a Recon Knight’s armor was weak to the extreme, and a one-hit kill was normal, this move didn’t tear open the armor to destroy the suit and then injure the Knight inside, but directly penetrated the outer layer to kill the person inside.

In other words, the result was the same whether there was armor or not.

Of course, this move wasn’t without its flaws; the attack range was simply too short.

Richie casually swung his Knight Blade a couple of times, wanting to find the feeling from earlier.

“Hurry up and follow.”

Randy’s shouts in the distance brought Richie back to his senses. Now was not the time to comprehend ultimate techniques.

The two continued to move forward in the dark. Richie possessed extraordinary perception and could rely on vibrations to know the conditions underfoot. Randy was even more formidable; she had psychokinesis. With just a scan of her psychokinesis, nothing within a hundred meters could escape her eyes.

When they came, they groped their way slowly, fearing an ambush. Going back, they didn’t have as many concerns, so the two ran swiftly.

However, a distance of twenty kilometers was indeed enough for them to run for quite a while.

Just as they were about to reach their original location, the sound of clashing metal suddenly came from afar.

“You stay here.”

Richie didn’t want Randy to get into an accident, because with Randy’s strength, even if she was just caught in the crossfire, she could lose her life.

But he was also worried that Randy would act on her own initiative and come to help, as she had done this before.

Leaving Randy behind, Richie immediately quickened his pace.

The sound of clashing metal sounded very close, but as he actually rushed there, he realized the distance was quite far.

As he got closer, Richie saw some lights. It was the radiance emitted by bursting Aura, and among them, a cluster of blue light was the most dazzling.

That cluster of blue light was like a resplendent gemstone, already giving people a feeling of tangible substance.

The one emitting that cluster of blue light was an azure-blue heavy Magitech Armor, wielding a pair of long halberds. These were a pair of heavy weapons, but in this person’s hands, they were as light as wooden sticks.

This person’s offensive was like ocean waves, one wave following another without the slightest pause. As the two long halberds swung, one could faintly see a surging tide, a phantom reflection of Aura that was almost corporeal.

Trisli and Lina barely managed to hold him off by joining forces, while the others desperately besieged the other two Ace Knights.

Richie only needed one glance to realize the situation was extremely dire. Merlin and Nora were already missing from their side, and among those still on the battlefield, the condition of Miss Calli and Rosa wasn’t very good either.

Suddenly, the longsword in the hands of one of the Ace Knights erupted with a flame-like light. That was the sign of accumulating Aura and preparing to launch a technique.

Richie pressed the button of his energy accumulation device, and his body shot toward that Ace Knight like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

At this moment, the ones tangled with that Ace Knight were the three sisters and Robin. Upon seeing Richie arrive, the four immediately changed their formation, leaving the frontal position open.

That Ace Knight had been extremely frustrated by the siege, so he intended to use his most ferocious attack to finish off his opponents in one fell swoop. Seeing a fresh force suddenly arrive on the opposite side, he still had no intention of changing his original strategy.

Both sides launched almost simultaneously.

The shield on Richie’s arm had a movable baffle. Normally closed, it looked no different from an ordinary arm shield, but once opened, it would reveal the mirror surface underneath.

A crimson light suddenly burst between the two.

Richie had fought against Ace Knights several times and knew that these guys reacted extremely swiftly and had reached the point where they could launch and retract their moves with ease. So this time, he pressed in very close, less than two meters away from the enemy.

At such a close distance, the Ace Knight simply didn’t have time to react, and the crimson sword aura slammed back along the tip of the sword.

With a clear, crisp crack, the longsword shattered, and along with it, the arms gripping the hilt.

But Richie didn’t have it easy either. He flew backward. The impact of this strike was too strong, and “Mirror: Reflection” had a flaw: while reflecting the attack back, the impact force endured would multiply. Although the mirror shield was exquisite, it was still too fragile and had been cracked. The residual force of the impact was transmitted to the Magitech Armor, not only cracking the armor but also severely injuring his left hand.

The three sisters and Robin all knew Richie’s ultimate move and had already prepared themselves. Just as the Ace Knight’s longsword shattered, an emerald-green radiance flew silently toward his chest, while three spiral hidden forces drilled in from unexpected angles.

The Ace Knight was knocked flying more than a dozen meters away, like a torn sack full of dirt being tossed away. As soon as he hit the ground, he never moved again.

Having taken out a formidable opponent, the few of them had absolutely no time to celebrate and immediately went to support Dana.

Dana and the other Ace Knight were evenly matched, neither able to deal with the other. Dana’s attack power was extremely strong, her moves as fast as lightning and as unstoppable as rolling thunder. Yet her opponent happened to be an exceptionally slippery fellow.

This person fought while paying attention to the situation nearby. Richie’s sudden arrival and his comrade’s instant death were all seen by him. He knew he was definitely the next target.

So he forcefully broke free from Dana’s entanglement and flew backward, still hesitating between fleeing and staying.

Right at this moment, an expanse of ice-blue sword light completely enveloped his retreat path, and amidst the ice-blue sword light were countless black strands.

Like that Ace Knight, the injured Calli and Rosa who had temporarily retreated also saw Richie’s arrival. Calli’s reaction was a step faster than the Ace Knight’s; she had already anticipated this outcome.

“Mirror: Reflection” wasn’t very useful in a one-on-one duel, but on a chaotic battlefield, it was a lethal weapon. Those who didn’t know about it would all suffer a great loss.

Calli foresaw the death of that Ace Knight, and similarly anticipated that the other Ace Knight would flee.

The combined block of the two sealed the Ace Knight’s escape route and also finally gave Dana the time to launch an attack. Her Aura had been fully accumulated long ago; she was just worried about missing, so she hadn’t dared to strike.

A scorching purple electrical radiance tore through the pitch-black night sky, and a muffled sound of rolling thunder could faintly be heard.

Dana’s “Lightning Strike” was an attack technique fast to the extreme, and it was also the nemesis of all illusory and evasive movement techniques. Richie had verified this fact with countless failures.

This Ace Knight’s movement technique was even faster than Richie’s, leaving a string of afterimages as he dodged, like a flock of ghosts darting around frantically. Unfortunately, all of this was useless. Once locked onto by the “Lightning Strike,” there was simply no way to escape.

The purple electrical radiance flashed past, and all the ghost shadows disappeared the moment the light lit up.

Anyone who could reach the Ace realm wasn’t a simple figure. This person naturally knew what his nemesis was. Back when Dana just assumed the starting stance, he knew he had met his nemesis, so he had been extremely careful throughout the fight, constantly circling Dana and fighting a running battle, just to deny Dana the opportunity to strike.

Dodging the “Lightning Strike” was definitely useless, so while he looked like he was trying to dodge, he had actually prepared a backup plan long ago.

Where the electrical radiance passed, metal fragments scattered everywhere. That person had actually sacrificed his left arm to offset the power of the “Lightning Strike.” He himself borrowed the force of that strike to fly far away, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.

All of this happened in a flash.

Before the three sisters, Robin, and Richie had time to reinforce this side, Dana had already dismissed her opponent.

Trisli and Lina, who had been struggling to hold on, instantly felt their spirits lift, and the two very tacitly switched from defense to offense at the same time.

Compared to Lina’s wide-open and sweeping style, Trisli had a completely different style. Her moves were very plain, each stance and strike showing no power whatsoever. However, compared to Lina’s imposing attacks, the Knight of Honor actually dreaded Trisli’s plain sword moves a bit more.

The Knight of Honor was now in a dilemma. In terms of strength, they should have been stronger. They both had three Ace Knights, and his side had him, a Knight of Honor, on top of that. He didn’t expect that right from the start, one of them would be jointly taken out by the opponents using the terrain, and then a fierce fresh force suddenly popped out on the other side, causing his two deputies to end up with one dead and one fleeing. He really wanted to retreat, but if he retreated now, he would lose all face.

Hardening his heart, this guy planned to go all out. He was confident that at most he would take some injuries, but he could definitely break out.

“Raging Sea Waves!”

He let out a deafening roar. As the roar echoed, his two thick long halberds transformed into a massive wave.

This move was almost exactly the same as the War Wave, except the War Wave covered a wider area and was circular, while this move only attacked in one direction, but its momentum was far more formidable.

Lina immediately retreated. She knew the terror of this type of attack best. All she could think of was “using strength to break strength,” but right now, the opponent was clearly the stronger one.

Trisli didn’t dare block it head-on either. The sword in her hand was like a sandy beach; although overwhelmed by the incoming furious tide, it also continuously drained the power of the furious tide.

Although this move was somewhat effective, the gap in strength was obvious. This genius girl just felt she was increasingly losing her grip on the sword in her hand.

Although only two people were facing this move, the others also felt boundless pressure. Everyone couldn’t help but wonder how they should deal with it.

The one feeling the most terrified was Richie. He finally understood why “Mirror: Reflection” didn’t have much of a future.

The reason lay right here.

He absolutely couldn’t block that move, much less reflect it, so he could only wait for death.

Just when everyone was deterred by that move, someone suddenly moved.

Absolutely no one expected Rosa to strike.

Her sword suddenly unraveled, turning into many slender metal wires, and each fine wire shot out a cyan thread of light. Thousands of slender cyan threads gathered together, ultimately twisting into one single strand.

“Thousand Threads and Lines… how is this possible?”

Robin cried out in disbelief.

An ultimate move that could make Robin’s expression change drastically was naturally not simple. Although the Knight of Honor had his back to this side, he also felt the impending crisis. He swung the long halberd in his left hand backwards, and the massive wave instantly split a section to block his back.

Although it was a hasty change of moves, his strength was obvious. Facing this massive wave, even Dana’s “Lightning Strike” simply couldn’t pierce through; it would only be absorbed, not even stirring up a ripple. If Lina used the “War Wave” to attack with full force, she might conjure up a big wave, but that was about it.

However, that single fine line condensed from thousands of threads of light silently pierced in, like a needle dropped into the sea.

The Knight of Honor let out a startled howl and jumped up all of a sudden. He had only avoided a vital hit by dodging half a foot away at the very last moment. However, that strike still punched a clean hole right through his body.

He hadn’t heard Robin’s shout, but from his own injury, he also thought of a legendary divine skill.

“Thousand Threads and Lines,” striking an extremely small point thousands of times in an instant.

Each strike of “Thousand Threads and Lines” wasn’t very powerful, but many a little makes a mickle, and dripping water hollows out stone. When thousands of strikes were all concentrated on a single point, the power was astounding, almost indestructible.

The Knight of Honor had originally cared about face, but he couldn’t care less now. This squad made him feel terrified. What terrified him wasn’t that there were three Ace Knights inside, but that the strength of these three Ace Knights far exceeded that of ordinary Ace Knights, and one of them was already almost on par with a Knight of Honor. But more importantly, the skills these people used were all ultimate arts and divine skills.

He had been observing the two people fighting him. One used the War Wave, which was of the same type as the “Raging Sea Waves” he cultivated, but a level higher, so he was naturally very clear about it.

The other one made his heart palpitate. No matter how he looked at it, he felt the martial skill that person used resembled the Heavenly Sword, ranked third among the legendary seventeen divine skills. Anyone who could cultivate this thing and achieve some success was not a simple character; in the future, they would either be a Sword Saint or reach the Heavenly stage.

Just now, when Bamo was killed, he had also seen a sword-shaped emerald light flash past. Wasn’t that the damn Zero-Sky Sword? Among ultimate arts, the Zero-Sky Sword was considered the most formidable and most shameless move. In terms of power, it was even greater than several of the lower-ranked divine skills.

And now there was a Thousand Threads and Lines added to the mix.

This battle simply couldn’t go on.

The Knight of Honor immediately leaped more than a dozen meters away. The moment his body landed, he saw a black shadow gliding toward him close to the ground.

The Knight of Honor didn’t dare be negligent. He hurriedly swung his right hand, and a massive wave pressed over with the momentum of a landslide and a tsunami.

Suddenly, he saw that black shadow draw a dim arc of light, and the arc of light instantly cut into the massive wave.

At first, the Knight of Honor didn’t care. “Raging Sea Waves” possessed both offense and defense, like a vast and boundless ocean, capable of withstanding various powerful attacks. There were only seven or eight attack techniques capable of breaking through the thick defense of “Raging Sea Waves.” No matter how bad his luck was, he wouldn’t encounter another nemesis right after encountering Thousand Threads and Lines.

Just as he was thinking this, the Knight of Honor suddenly discovered that although the arc of light was swallowed by his massive wave, it transformed into a sharp arc-shaped water blade and continued flying toward him.

“High-Frequency Oscillating Wave Blade…”

The Knight of Honor shrieked. Naturally, he knew his own nemeses best.

He had just landed at this moment, and the momentum of his fall hadn’t completely dissipated. He simply couldn’t jump again in time, not even managing a dodge.

He could only stretch out his left arm to block; this was sacrificing a pawn to save a chariot.

The arc-shaped water blade cleaved into his left arm. The Knight of Honor felt a slight sting in his left arm, and immediately after, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his knee. He looked down, only to see a speck of green light piercing out from his knee.

It was the Zero-Sky Sword, this super shameless ultimate art.

A wave of desolation surged in the Knight of Honor’s heart. He stopped running, supporting himself on his remaining good leg, and pushed his entire Aura to its peak.

With a furious roar, the azure-blue light instantly swallowed all other light. Countless ripples of light appeared in the sky, as if this area had suddenly turned into an ocean.

Richie couldn’t care about the others. He braced himself and took a hit using “Mirror: Reflection,” flying far away using that powerful impact.

Fortunately, he had this ultimate move, and fortunately, he still had a mirror shield.

Lying on the ground, Richie felt he had taken heavy damage. His chest was tight and painful, he was seeing stars, and his mouth tasted of metallic blood.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and after doing so, he felt a little better.

He struggled to his feet. The wound on his arm throbbed faintly, and several ribs seemed to be broken. However, he still gripped his Knight Blade and charged toward the battlefield.

At this moment on the battlefield, only Trisli was fighting the Knight of Honor. Lina was lying on the ground. The front of her Magitech Armor was still intact, but the armor plating on both sides had entirely vanished, revealing the steel skeleton inside.

Only a head-on block would result in such an outcome.

Richie instantly understood why Trisli was completely unscathed. It seemed in that split second earlier, these two former rivals had temporarily put aside their disputes and joined forces once.

That Knight of Honor was already a spent force. Dragging one leg, he hobbled in combat with Trisli.

Although temporarily holding the upper hand, the Knight of Honor also knew he was done for, and defeat and death were only a matter of time. Seeing someone approaching from the other side, he swiftly forced Trisli back, wanting to finish off Richie first.

Unfortunately, before he could launch an attack, Richie had already drawn a dim arc of light a step ahead.

Upon seeing this move, the Knight of Honor’s originally surging fighting spirit instantly plummeted by half.

Richie executing this move was actually just a bluff. He simply hadn’t mastered the key to unleashing and retracting it. His attack range absolutely wouldn’t exceed ten meters, and to injure someone, he would have to close in to within five meters.

The reason he hastily launched the move was due to Trisli’s order.

This genius girl had calculated everything in, and the Knight of Honor indeed reacted as she expected.

Almost simultaneously, a scorching electrical radiance shot over, instantly piercing through the Knight of Honor’s body. Then, an ethereal sword light swirled past, severing his remaining arm along with the long halberd gripped in his hand.

Trisli could have killed the Knight of Honor, but she didn’t do so.

The moment the long halberd fell to the ground, a cold arc of light slashed down from the sky, as if a crescent moon had appeared in the night sky.

Richie knew Trisli deliberately left this final blow to him, and naturally, he wouldn’t decline out of politeness.

The arc of light appeared and vanished in a flash, and the Knight of Honor crashed to the ground.

Richie was actually also struggling to hold on. His body swayed, and he dropped to one knee on the ground.

Glancing left and right, he felt not a sliver of the joy of victory.

Why was it always so tragic every time they encountered a Knight of Honor?

Last time, Captain Calli, Nora, and his luck had been better. This time looked even worse than the last. Miss Dana was obviously severely injured, and that last strike was forced out. Trisli also had quite a few wounds on her body, and something seemed wrong with one of her legs. His own injuries were somewhere between light and severe, and the others goes without saying.

“We can’t keep waiting here; we have to leave quickly.”

Trisli limped toward the distance.

“The problem is, how do we leave now?”

Richie simply sat on the ground. As he complained, he scanned his surroundings. He didn’t dare forget that the enemy side still had one Ace Knight alive.

Although that guy had one arm disabled, if he jumped out now, probably no one would be able to resist him.

“Randy should be fine, right?”

Trisli asked.

“She’s fine. She’s the one in the best condition in this squad right now.”

Richie joked half-heartedly. He suddenly remembered it was the same last time. Psions really had the advantage, heavily protected every time.

Right at this moment, a rumbling sound approached their direction. Richie’s expression instantly turned grim, and he struggled to stand up.

“Don’t worry, it’s Margaret. Before the battle started, Miss Calli asked her to do something.”

Trisli quickly explained, not wanting Richie to misunderstand.

The rumbling sound drew closer and closer, and they were finally able to see clearly what it was.

A vehicle drove over slowly. The thing was extremely crude, just an iron plate mounted on six wheels, looking somewhat similar to their trailer.

While Richie was in a daze, Trisli had already walked to Lina’s side. She opened the front hatch of the Magitech Armor and lifted Lina out.

Dana was doing the same thing. The only reason she suffered minor damage under that strike just now was entirely because of Calli’s sacrifice.

In that split second, Calli had stepped in front of her.

Dana felt Calli’s pulse with extreme anxiety. Very luckily, there was still a faint pulse.

She struggled, wanting to get up from the ground.

“Don’t waste your energy, leave everything to me!”

Margaret ran over.

“There are twelve syringes of PHO in the trailer, Margaret, go get them.”

Trisli instructed.

Upon hearing this, the anxiety on Dana’s face instantly faded by quite a bit.

The items were brought over quickly. PHO was a red injection, roughly the color of blood. With one injection, Calli’s originally extremely weak pulse immediately grew stronger.

Dana hurriedly gave Lina and Rosa an injection each, and then, without hesitation, she gave herself one as well.

PHO, like the X23 enhancer Richie had injected in the past, was a very rare item. It could accelerate metabolism, allowing damaged cellular tissue to recover rapidly, and was beneficial to all aspects of the body.

The biggest advantage of this drug was the same as X23: a Knight facing a bottleneck could increase their chances of breaking through after injecting this drug. However, PHO was much more powerful than X23; it was equally effective on Ace Knights.

Naturally, the production of such a drug was definitely even lower, and it was even more precious.

In the Dante Alliance, only the Packington Holy Empire and the O’Moore Empire could produce this drug, and their combined annual production was no more than a few dozen syringes. In the Norman Alliance, only the Franca Empire had the production capability, and the output was pitifully low.

As soon as the injection was administered, Dana immediately felt her body heat up rapidly, her heartbeat sped up significantly, and her injured areas tingled in waves.

“I forgot to mention just now, don’t rush to inject yourself.”

Trisli walked over with a bitter smile. She carried a person in each hand, Robin in one and Nora in the other. “After injecting PHO, you’ll fall asleep very quickly. I was still counting on you to help me out with a few things!”

Dana smiled bitterly. She couldn’t speak anymore because she already felt a heavy drowsiness.

​