I Aggressively Stack Steel of the Heart in the Knight Order

Chapter 204: Chapter 169: Secret Treasure Levels, a Formidable Foe Appears, Warlord Nico

If the intel from Seventy-Six was accurate, then once they controlled Kemola, neither the Space Dragon Race nor the Demon Legion would ever tolerate Human Empire Knights escaping right under their noses.

They would have to face the main legions the Alien Races had deployed to this grand battlefield head-on.

A small unit like the Vengeance Angel Squad and Reinhardt would be a lost cause.

Even if the Imperial Administrative Region were to deploy a ten-thousand-strong Knight Battle Group and a million-strong Infantry Legion to the Kemola War Zone, they would be devoured without a trace within a week!

...

The Kemola Tomb Complex was enormous. The labyrinthine corridors of its middle levels were even more complex than the Lower City District of Verne’s Stereoscopic City.

Without Agate to lead the way, it would be easy to get lost inside.

When the Vengeance Angel Squad burst into the Tomb Treasure Vault to intercept the Ancient Black Box, a magnificent, dome-shaped space, resembling a massive, circular library, suddenly appeared before them.

Two massive Saint Statues, cast from gold and over ten meters tall, stood on the left and right in the center of the vault.

Dim lights flickered incessantly, threatening to go out at any moment.

The display racks, once filled with countless treasures, were now mostly empty. The scattered white bones and architectural rubble on the ground silently spoke of the brutal battles that had taken place here over the past million years.

Clearly, they were not the first explorers to arrive here, nor would they be the last.

Someone had beaten them to it, taking the last remaining valuables before they arrived.

"Irenia! I know you’re hiding in here! Hand it over, and I swear on my soul I won’t hurt you."

Utility Magic: Spiritual Resonance.

A simple trick known to every Wizard, it used Spiritual Amplification to dramatically increase how far one’s voice could carry.

And there, standing beneath one of the Golden Saint Statues, was the disheveled figure of Florant. The hair plastered to his forehead was slick with clammy sweat, his expression was grim, and his gaze was predatory.

Unfortunately, no matter how he threatened and cajoled, no one in the Tomb Treasure Vault answered.

The only response he received was the heavy footsteps and the roar of Power Backpacks as the Vengeance Angel Squad burst into the Tomb Treasure Vault.

Hearing the sound, Florant spun around.

When he saw Reinhardt and his squad appear, his expression was one of utter shock. His pupils even trembled slightly. He subconsciously thought, ’Has Reinhardt gone mad?!’

’To give up the fight for the Ancient Black Box just to kill me and save that woman, Irenia?!’

The complexity of the Kemola Tomb Complex was plain to see. He had originally thought that by tailing Irenia here, he could perfectly shake his pursuers and escape the hunt from Reinhardt and the Oreno Family.

All he needed to do was catch that woman, Irenia, who was cunning to the bone, and have her lead him out of the tomb complex.

He could promise her he didn’t want any treasure. Once he escaped from Kemola, he had plenty of ways to kill Irenia and seize the inherited knowledge of the Death Star Bloodline.

’A mere apprentice thought she could escape from my grasp?’

Besides, now that all pretenses were dropped, he had no intention of returning to Anatol’s territory to spend his days kowtowing to that weak old fool.

But all of his plans had been thrown into chaos by the appearance of Reinhardt and his squad.

Florant knew full well what he had done in the lower levels of the tomb complex. Based on his limited understanding of Reinhardt, that bloodthirsty Imperial Knight would never let him go.

If he hadn’t been injured, he certainly wouldn’t have feared Reinhardt.

But under the combined assault of experts from the Oreno Family and the Watch Alliance, his two Wizard’s Secret Treasures had been completely destroyed, and the Eternal Structure implanted in his heart had overloaded, causing irreversible damage to his Spiritual Power.

It was only thanks to this Wizard’s Secret Treasure, a creation from the hands of a Spiritual Artisan, that he had managed to escape with his life.

Artificial, Forge-cast, Spiritual Artisan, Constant, Divine Artifact.

It wasn’t just for a Wizard’s Secret Treasure; all unnatural creations in the entire cosmos could be graded in strength using the Wizard Civilization’s structural classification system.

An Imperial Knight’s Power Armor, even Reinhardt’s Fortress Level Armor, was merely a Secret Treasure of the Artificial Level according to this classification, far from being considered powerful.

But a Wizard’s Secret Treasure of the Spiritual Artisan Level, even one that was severely damaged with only some of its functions remaining, still possessed immense power!

A mere Mortal, after undergoing alchemical modification and being implanted with a Spiritual Artisan Level Secret Treasure, could gain the power to rival a Tier Two Mage.

A Secret Treasure of this level was priceless but unavailable in the Ash Soil Star Zone, and no Transcendent would ever sell such a powerful Extraordinary Creation to another.

The Eternal Structure implanted in Florant’s heart had been stolen by him many years ago from a core member of a Merchant Family.

That’s right—a member of the Oreno Family.

The blood feud between them was not something that could be resolved with just a few words.

He suspected it was likely a piece of an extremely powerful Constant Level Secret Treasure, which had been broken off and then severely damaged.

It could barely be considered a Spiritual Artisan Level Secret Treasure, and its effectiveness was greatly diminished.

However, for him, it was still a powerful trump card he could use to save his life.

And now, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Florant’s forehead. His mind raced, and in an instant, he had already thought of numerous excuses to try and talk his way out of this.

But he wasn’t sure if he could deceive Reinhardt.

However, before he could open his mouth to explain, another door leading into the Tomb Treasure Vault boomed open, and a gaunt figure stumbled into view at the other end of the vault.

His gray Wizard Robe was stained with blood. His young face was exceptionally handsome, but his aura was unstable. The hastily stitched wound on his chest was even still seeping blood.

Master Level Tier Two Wizard, Warlord Nico!

One of Grand Lord Kles’s most valued subordinates, a high-ranking member of the Think Tank, and one of the Baze Nobility.

Warlord Nico raised his head. His gaze traveled down the wide corridor between the display racks, past the magnificent Golden Saint Statues, past Florant, and finally landed on Reinhardt at the far end of the vault.

Blood still trickled from the corner of his mouth. It seemed he had been severely injured while retrieving the Ancient Black Box.

He and Grand Lord Kles had plotted for thirty years to obtain the Ancient Black Box. Even their escape route from the Tomb Treasure Vault had been planned in advance.

But he had never expected that more than one person would arrive here before him. From the looks of it, the people from the Imperial Administrative Region were lying in wait for him.

A Divine Artifact-level Wizard’s Secret Treasure like the Ancient Black Box required extremely strict storage conditions if it was damaged. According to the original plan, after Logan used the Eye of the Great Demon to kill the Vengeful Angels, he would use his body as a vessel to transport the Secret Treasure back to Baze World.

But things had not gone according to plan.

Nico’s expression darkened. He knew that unless he killed these people, he would never be able to leave the tomb complex with the Ancient Black Box.

In the next second, the atmosphere in the Tomb Treasure Vault grew heavy and murderous. A battle was about to erupt.