After Grand Knight makes his move, all the obstacles in the passage clear away immediately. Henwell and the others drag the wounded and the bodies of fallen soldiers, retreating in disarray from the passage and returning to the king’s hall.

Outside, the two teams only now realize what has happened.

Once Henwell and his group withdraw from the passage, the bearded Iron Knight, together with another comrade, channels their Fighting Spirit and swings their longswords. The solid Fighting Spirit forms a massive blade that instantly shatters a section of the passage, completely blocking the path below. This prevents the burning oil from igniting and producing toxic smoke that could flow into the king’s hall.

After finishing this, the Iron Knights confer among themselves. They have now taken over command of the scene. Henwell has no objections; he just wants to get out of this nightmare as soon as possible.

From the start, things felt off, and now everything has gone far beyond Henwell’s predictions and control. He hasn’t felt this manipulated in a long time and thinks it’s necessary to reflect deeply on himself.

While Henwell is lost in complicated thoughts, the Iron Knights finish their discussion and prepare to open the shelter, intending to capture Ulysses first.

The situation is clear: Veil has taken control of Ulysses and set a deadly trap targeting the church and the empire. If the church and empire had not been cautious, these five elite teams would have been wiped out here.

If the Western Regions’ Western Federation loses these five elite teams, it will cause massive repercussions. For a significant time, the Western Regions will have a huge power vacuum over the eastern countries.

This undoubtedly enrages the Western Federation, which will respond with even fiercer retaliation. It may even directly intervene in the interests of the eastern countries, possibly dispatching elite troops and joining forces with other nations to wage war against the Kingdom of Billie.

This loss of control is exactly what Veil wants.

Henwell shudders at these thoughts. His progress has been too smooth, and he has somewhat underestimated Veil. If Veil doesn’t strike, it’s fine; but once they do, it’s a continent-level superwar.

Henwell frowns, pondering how to find a balance between the Western Regions and Veil to buy himself enough time.

At the Iron Knights’ request, Leician shuts down the protective spell on the shelter. Several Iron Knights grab their weapons and enter the shelter.

As the remaining Grand Knight captains follow inside, Henwell, walking at the back, suddenly strikes out, sending McComb and Diara flying away. At the same time, Henwell shoves his shoulder into Pakrik’s side. The two roll to the side, knocking over tables and chairs in the hall.

Without getting up, Henwell shouts angrily, “Enemy attack! Form defensive formations!”

Though no one fully understands what’s happening, the knights left in the king’s hall have been under constant assault and are already on edge. Hearing Henwell’s order, they instinctively link their Fighting Spirit and group together, forming defensive circles.

Suddenly, a blinding light bursts before them. A massive magic circle appears on the floor of the king’s hall. As the runes glow brighter, the temperature in the hall rises sharply.

Within moments, it soars to several hundred degrees. Just as it nears a thousand degrees, a massive explosion erupts.

The power of this spell covers hundreds of square meters of the king’s hall.

After a moment, Henwell climbs to his feet, shaking his dizzy head. As he regains consciousness from the blast, his eyes immediately fall on Kimir beside him, whose wide eyes and half-burned face tell a grim story.

Henwell looks again, confirming that Kimir, the Grand Knight captain of the Empire’s knight hunting squad at his peak, is now missing the lower half of his body. From the chest down, his body is completely gone, whether blown apart or thrown somewhere is unknown.

Henwell scans the surroundings, taking in the devastation: severed limbs, scattered flesh, and entrails everywhere. From the start to the escape passage, over fifty knights have been lost.

This explosion alone causes far more casualties than all the losses combined on the way here.

Out of the original 250 elite soldiers, fewer than a hundred remain. Many are seriously wounded, and it’s uncertain how many will survive.

Besides Kimir, church Paladin Zoffern also dies in the blast. Leician suffers severe injuries, losing his left arm completely. Pakrik loses sight in one eye, with half his face burned and his gums exposed. Sosie’s chest and abdomen are mangled, coughing up blood mixed with bits of internal organs, clearly suffering from grave internal injuries.

Among the raiding team, only Diara and McComb remain relatively intact in terms of combat strength. Henwell himself is only lightly injured, his body marked by a patch of deep red and a few bruises.

It seems something hard and sharp struck him during the explosion. Although his internal organs suffer some damage, his strong physique means these injuries hardly count as minor wounds. After a few breaths, the heavy pressure in his chest fades. In a short time, Henwell can fully recover and replenish his health.

Faced with the heavy losses before him, Henwell doesn’t have time to be shocked. He immediately shouts angrily to those around him, “Those who can still move, get up quickly and gather together to defend! There are still enemies!”

As he speaks, the shelter’s entrance explodes open, and several Iron Knights rush out, looking battered. Six Iron Knights went in, but only five come out, with one seriously wounded and being dragged along. Clearly, the Iron Knight left behind inside the shelter has already perished in the trap.

Just as Henwell is about to ask what kind of trap lies inside, several figures emerge from the dust-filled passage of the shelter. They wear varied gear but all bear Veil’s insignia.

This isn’t a mechanical trap but Veil’s elite waiting inside the shelter, lying in ambush for the Western Regions’ Iron Knights to walk right into their hands.

Leading them, a Veil Iron Knight says, “Garcia, how’s it feel seeing an old friend again?”

The bearded Iron Knight named Garcia curses, “Damn you, Jeremy, you pig! All you know is these dirty tricks!”

Jeremy, the Veil member, laughs, “Heh heh… Garcia, we put a lot of effort into setting up this kill zone! How’s that for a show? We have six people, you only have five. No, make that four. I think Janet’s about done for. One stab from the Heartpiercer blade. Forget fighting, she’s lucky to survive.”

The situation is unexpectedly grim.

Henwell has no time to ponder what went wrong. He immediately calls on his Blood Will, focusing on healing his wounds as fast as possible.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep