I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Thanks to his Knight’s enhanced vision and reflexes, the flow of time seemed to slow to a crawl, allowing him to track the trajectory of Reinhardt’s left fist with perfect clarity.

His face contorted in a terrified snarl as he tried to raise his arms to block, to break Reinhardt’s overwhelming assault in a desperate, last-ditch effort!

To counter Reinhardt’s Destruction Combat Techniques—so tyrannical they made his very soul tremble—he unhesitatingly activated the Knight’s Treasure embedded in his left breast, one forged from the Soul of the Frost Giant Dragon!

In that instant, time seemed to freeze. An astonishingly cold Frost Element Power seeped into his skin and flesh, roaring through his veins as the Elemental Power surged through his entire body.

Threads of frost element extended from his wrist, weaving together over his forearm to form a spike-covered Elemental Ice Shield.

In a flash, his gaze locked with Reinhardt’s at close range. He let out a low, furious roar, like a cornered beast unwilling to accept its impending death.

Knight’s Treasure—Frost Dragon Core.

This was his greatest asset, the reason he had been able to plunder the Ash Soil Star Zone for a hundred years and remain at large!

The amplification the Frost Dragon Core provided to his Elemental Domain couldn’t be compared to a cheap, knock-off Wizard’s Secret Treasure like Lynore’s.

He had spent a fortune to commission a Master of Casting to seal the rare Elemental Dragon Spirit of a Frost Giant Dragon within a Gemstone Container. Then, using Alchemy Transformation Technology, it was connected to his nerves and heart before being embedded into the muscles of his chest.

Not only did it drastically increase his control over frost elements, but the power of the Frost Dragon Core itself could forcibly raise his Knight Power by one star of Military Rank.

In other words, after activating the Frost Dragon Core, the strength of his Elemental Domain would be forcibly elevated to the level of a Four-star Military Rank!

Even so, the suffocating, terrifying pressure of facing Reinhardt’s Destruction Combat Techniques still plunged him deep into despair!

He discovered with terror that even after activating his Knight’s Treasure, the strength of his Mighty Power would struggle to contend with Reinhardt’s!

Reinhardt’s left fist, wreathed in his Destruction Force Field, howled forward. It crashed into the Elemental Ice Shield constructed from the man’s Earth Ring and Knight’s Treasure. This was no flashy display of Special Abilities, but a direct confrontation of pure Knight Power, and it unleashed a terrifying shockwave!

Dispersed frost elements transformed into clouds of white mist that swirled and howled in the violent gale!

BOOM—!

A silent roar, deafening to the Transcendents’ perception of the Real Cosmos!

As the clash registered in the perception of the other four Earth Knight Level Transcendents, their very souls trembled in terror!

「The next moment.」

The white mist, no longer supported by Extraordinary Power, vanished in an instant.

The horrifying sound of breaking bones and tearing sinew—the sound of flesh and blood struck by immense force—was carried on a conical shockwave of blood mist and shredded flesh that splattered across the ground!

The body of the now-headless Three-star Military Rank Earth Knight swayed for a moment before crashing heavily to the ground.

The spine at the ragged stump of its neck twitched uncontrollably as dark red blood gushed out.

When the other four fleeing men saw the headless corpse fall, the horror in their hearts reached an absolute peak!

First, he cut down the Poisonous Woman Linoer with one swing of his axe.

Then, with a single punch, he obliterated the Cold Knight, Claude, who was even stronger than Lynore.

’This level of power completely shatters our shallow understanding of what an Earth Knight Level Transcendent is capable of! He’s a monster!’

But that wasn’t even the most terrifying part.

What truly horrified them was that, even now, they had yet to see Reinhardt use a single Knight’s Treasure! From their understanding of combat, this meant Reinhardt wasn’t taking them seriously in the slightest!

Fighting at the Earth Knight Level without using a Knight’s Treasure was like a soldier walking onto a battlefield without a weapon.

It was no different from him having torn those two people apart with his bare hands!

’He’s a monster!’

’No... he’s more terrifying than a monster!’

Because for both Knights and Wizards, after advancing to the Earth Military Rank, Knight’s Treasures and Wizard’s Secret Treasures were crucial sources of Extraordinary Power—an integral part of any Transcendent’s overall strength.

Even the Earth Ring relied on a Knight’s Treasure to unleash its full potential.

However, Battle Group Tutor Geoffroy had never taught Reinhardt any of this. He had only told him to focus on developing his Earth Ring and warned him never to forget the true essence of a Knight’s power.

Or rather, to a truly powerful Imperial Knight, a Knight’s Treasure was merely an extension of their power—a tool to reach higher Military Ranks and add variety to their combat methods.

It was not, as these Interstellar Pirates perceived, a weapon to be relied upon to drastically increase their combat strength.

That was why they couldn’t believe that Reinhardt, a mere One-star Earth Military Rank, could crush the Poisonous Woman Linoer and the Cold Knight Claude bare-handed, without even using a Knight’s Treasure!

When another Three-star Military Rank Earth Knight sensed Reinhardt’s aura rapidly closing in, cold sweat drenched his back, and his soul nearly fled his body in terror!

Honor. Dignity.

’Compared to staying alive, those things aren’t worth a damn!’ he thought.

Clammy sweat soaked his back. He gripped his Knight’s Broadsword, activated the Knight’s Treasure that amplified the strength of his Destruction Force Field, and met the full force of the Black War Axe’s assault. His eyes trembled as he shrieked in terror, ”I surrender—! I... dammit—! I said I—”

Even though the Interstellar Pirate was desperately begging for mercy, willing to surrender and submit to the judgment of Imperial law, Reinhardt was completely unmoved.

The previous Elemental Knight had managed to contend with Reinhardt for a moment, thanks to his Treasure. But when it was this Destruction Knight’s turn, he couldn’t even mount a decent resistance.

The defining trait of a Destruction Knight was high offense and low defense.

To become a truly formidable Destruction Knight, one needed Body Techniques, combat experience, and natural intuition—not one could be lacking.

Clearly, this Interstellar Pirate’s strength was a far cry from ”formidable.”

From the perspective of the Defense Army, Mortals, and even local Knight Battle Groups, Interstellar Pirates who wielded Extraordinary Power and possessed various Secret Treasures were powerful, evil, and almost invincible—like terrifying natural disasters!

However, when these notorious Transcendents came face to face with the elites of the Imperial Main Battle Legions—with Imperial Knights who had carved bloody paths through one grand battlefield after another...

...the gap in their strength was as wide as a heavenly chasm!

With the crushing force of an avalanche, Reinhardt slaughtered all the pirate leaders with lightning speed, all under the horrified gazes of their subordinates.

As Reinhardt pulled the final corpse—a Tier Two Mage—from his Black War Axe...

...an incredibly powerful and terrifying aura suddenly erupted from his body! It descended uncontrollably upon the lowest level of the tomb complex, washing over the perception of every Transcendent still fighting with crushing pressure!

It was the unique Earth Ring ability of the Destruction Force Field—Destructive Suppression!

And at that very moment, Reinhardt’s Earth Military Rank completed its first advancement, reaching the Two-star Military Rank!