Chapter 452 - 426: Extortion! Bizarre Armament

Chapter 452: Chapter 426: Extortion! Bizarre Armament

Hagry had barely finished his arrogant proclamation when, before Roland and his group could even respond, a stifled commotion and whispers broke out among the Rusted Knights behind him.

A confused voice mumbled.

"Hey! Boss! When did you become the leader of our Knight Order? Isn’t Lord Tangde the leader? We..."

"Shut up! You idiot!"

Hagry whipped his head around, his gaze from under his faceplate sweeping over the loose-lipped rider like a cold blade as he brutally cut him off.

The rider immediately fell silent, cowering.

After berating his subordinate, Hagry turned back to Roland’s group as if the small interruption had been nothing more than insignificant background noise.

He deliberately flexed his four unnatural, armor-clad arms in a show of pride, their metal joints emitting a faint grinding sound.

His voice then rose again, filled with a sense of superiority born from his physical mutation.

"See this, Veil Breakers? And you blind fools!"

That last part was clearly directed at his own men.

"This is the clearest revelation and gift from the heavens, from this very land! Even our esteemed leader, Tangde..."

A subtle hint of contempt laced his tone as he spoke the name.

"He only possesses three arms, symbols of Power! But I, Hagry, have four! Doesn’t that say it all?"

He pounded one arm heavily against his thick chestplate, producing a dull thud. His voice rang with unshakable conviction.

"This peerless gift, this form that transcends the ordinary, has foretold it all! Before long, the position of leader of the Rusted Knight Order is destined to be mine—Hagry’s!"

At these words, the riders began to cheer in admiration. Aboard the Shell Ship, however...

"Rudolph..."

Duraga leaned against the ship’s rail, squinting as he surveyed the noisy scene below. He turned his head and whispered to Roland.

"What’s that four-armed freak down there yelling about? But I have to say..."

His gaze returned to Hagry, who was busy showing off his limbs. Duraga couldn’t help but shudder as he mumbled.

"That freak... he’s even uglier than the two-headed Giants I’ve seen deep in the mines."

Faced with Duraga’s question, Roland, who had never encountered such a situation before, was just as bewildered.

However, as he watched the reverence and envy on the faces of the Rusted Knights, a theory began to form in his mind.

’This group seems to have undergone physical mutations for some unknown reason. And within this so-called "Rusted Knight Order," the degree of mutation appears to be directly tied to one’s status.’

As his thoughts raced, Roland stepped forward and called out, his voice cutting clearly through the low whistle of the wind across the wasteland.

"We are merely travelers passing through and have no intention of trespassing on your territory. Our vessel broke down upon arrival. We will depart as soon as it’s repaired."

"Oh? Just passing through and making repairs?"

As Hagry listened, he unabashedly swept his greedy gaze over the Shell Ship’s streamlined and rune-covered hull.

After a moment, he casually swung one of his arms and spoke with feigned magnanimity.

"I suppose that’s fine. However..."

His tone shifted, his voice laced with calculation.

"This land is under our control. Your big vessel is stopped here, taking up our space. Don’t you think... you should pay a little mooring fee?"

Hearing this blatant extortion, Roland’s gaze turned cold.

He gently patted the tense forearm of Avril beside him, a gesture for her to remain calm. Then he chuckled, a playful edge to his voice.

"Oh? And what do you believe we ought to pay?"

Seeing this, Hagry assumed Roland was backing down and let out a triumphant snicker.

He rubbed a few of his hands together, producing a harsh, metallic grinding sound.

"It’s simple! You outsiders don’t look very wealthy... How about this? Once you’ve repaired your ship, you can temporarily ’entrust’ it to us as compensation. What do you say?"

He put special emphasis on the word "entrust," his intentions perfectly clear.

"Hah..."

A cold sneer escaped Roland as the hand resting on his sword hilt slowly tightened.

"And if... we refuse?"

"Hm?"

Apparently not expecting such a straightforward refusal, Hagry paused for a second. Then, as if offended, he tapped his faceplate, his voice suddenly turning grim and threatening.

"Then... I’m afraid you won’t have a choice in the matter!"

But before he could finish his threat...

WHOOSH!

An arrow infused with Magic Power shot from Avril’s bowstring, a silver bolt of lightning tearing through the dim sky.

With a piercing whistle, it flew with pinpoint accuracy straight for Hagry’s face.

But just as the arrow was about to pierce Hagry’s faceplate...

VMM!

With a low hum, a patch of murky, flickering, eerie green energy flared to life on his chest armor.

The moment the arrow touched this unknown energy, it was as if it had struck an invisible, viscous wall. Its trajectory was thrown violently off course.

With a piercing shriek, it scraped past the edge of his helmet and flew off into the distance, leaving only a few dissipating sparks of energy in its wake.

’Hm?’

A flicker of doubt crossed Roland’s mind as he watched.

’Is that Magic? No... that’s not right. There’s no fluctuation of Magic Elements. This feels more like...’

His gaze flicked to Avril.

On the index finger she used to draw the bowstring, the Elf Maiden wore a ring set with a gem that resembled a Muddy Crystal Stone.

’A pre-charged, passively triggered Magical Artifact?’

The thought flashed through his mind.

But there was no time to dwell on it.

Seeing that Avril’s surprise attack had been ineffective, Roland immediately gave a sharp command.

"Duraga, protect the Shell Ship!"

Before the words were out of his mouth, he had already planted a foot on the high ship’s rail.

Then, his leg muscles tensed and unleashed their power. Like a bolt from a powerful crossbow, like an eagle spotting its prey, he launched himself from the Shell Ship with a fierce momentum, pouncing down upon the Rusted Knight Order below.

Meanwhile, the riders below had also reacted.

One of the riders stared at Roland, who was hurtling through the air toward them, and yelled in astonishment.

"Hey, Boss! Looks like these guys aren’t gonna hand over their stuff quietly! They’re fighting back!"

"No shit!"

Hagry roared, smacking one of his arms hard against the rider’s helmet with a resounding CLANG.

Then, he swept all four arms forward, pointing toward the descending Roland, his voice growing shrill with rage.

"Get them! Crush them!"

At his command, the Rusted Knights let out bizarre whistles and spurred their mutated mounts. Kicking up clouds of sand and dust, they charged forward like a murky, surging flood.

However, before this torrent of steel could fully form into a charging line...

BOOM!

Roland crashed heavily into the center of the charging formation like a meteorite.

The immense impact shook the very ground, and a cloud of dust instantly billowed out.

Immediately following, a visible, dark-red shockwave reeking of blood erupted from the point of impact. Like the concentric ripples from a boulder dropped into a calm lake, it ferociously expanded outward.

This ripple was no mere Energy Shock; it was suffused with a heart-stopping, almost tangible battle lust and killing intent.

The first few Rusted Knights in its path, along with their mutated mounts, were struck as if by an invisible sledgehammer, sent flying from their saddles with wretched screams.

The bizarre horses had their legs broken, and they tumbled to the ground with pathetic whinnies, kicking up even more dust.

A single burst of Fighting Spirit from his landing instantly sent the charging formation into disarray, men and horses toppling over and clearing a space at its center.

But to Roland’s surprise, despite the sheer force of his Fighting Spirit shockwave, not a single one of the unseated Rusted Knights was seriously injured or killed.

They just scrambled to their feet, looking a little battered, shook their heads, and picked up their scattered weapons.

As if they felt no pain, they began to close in on Roland again, the ferocity in their eyes only growing stronger.

At this sight, a chill ran through Roland.

From the moment of contact, his keen Perception had already registered that these Rusted Knights’ bodies were abnormally tough. The energy within them seemed to form a strange resonance with the stagnant Magic Elements in the air, making their Life Energy exceptionally resilient.

But that was the extent of it.

He was certain that not one of them had stepped into the Extraordinary Realm.

The Fighting Spirit shockwave he had just released, while not his full power, was still enough to stagger an ordinary Extraordinary Professional.

Yet these Knights, who clearly had not reached the Extraordinary level, acted as if they had merely been knocked over by a gust of wind, ready to fight again in an instant.

’What is going on here?’

Doubt coiled around Roland’s heart like a venomous snake.

In the time it took for the thought to flash through his mind, a Rusted Knight had already roared and charged forward, swinging his sword.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the Giant Dragon Bloodline within him surged. Immense Power flooded his arm as he swung his Moonlight Longsword in a casual horizontal slash, the blade shrieking as it tore through the air.

CLANG!

A deafening clang, far louder than any normal clash of metal, exploded outward.

But the sound was bizarre. It was as if their gear possessed some energy-absorbing Trait; even the sound itself seemed to lose its ability to travel, coming out muffled and suppressed.

The Rusted Knight who had met Roland’s attack was sent sliding backward as if struck by a siege hammer. His heavy metal boots plowed two deep furrows in the ground, tens of meters long, yet he remained on his feet, still in a two-handed blocking stance.

Once he steadied himself, he simply shook his trembling arms. A few muffled curses issued from beneath his faceplate, but he seemed otherwise unharmed.

Roland’s eyes narrowed, his sharp gaze instantly locking onto the weapon in his opponent’s hands.

’Not only was his body unharmed, but his weapon... isn’t even chipped? No, that’s not it...’

Only now did Roland notice the strange nature of the weapons in the Rusted Knights’ hands.

These weren’t swords in the conventional sense.

Their design was crude and practical, bearing obvious marks of industrial forging, but what was truly eye-catching were the unusually thick spine of the blade and the peculiar hilt structure.

The hilt wasn’t a simple grip, but an intricate core mechanism forged from some dark, dull metal.

At its center, a fist-sized device—resembling a muddy crystal or some strange engine—rotated slowly. It emitted faint, unstable fluctuations that shared a source with the stagnant ambient Magic Power, yet were far more concentrated.

These fluctuations faintly resonated with the knights’ armor and their mutated bodies, seeming to form a complete, twisted system of circulating energy.

These blades were anything but common steel.

They, it seemed, were the key to how the Rusted Knights could withstand Extraordinary Power...