Meanwhile, with a thunderous crash, the massive fortress gate leading into Nightfall Domain slammed shut.

The portcullis of the barbican dropped as well, sealing Richard and his men inside the killing ground.

Towering walls surrounded them on every side, leaving no escape and no hope.

"Wha... What? How is it you?"

Richard froze.

After several seconds, disbelief gave way to sheer terror.

"No... This can’t be real. How could you possibly be here?"

No matter how hard he tried, he could never have imagined that the man he had come to kill had taken over his own fortress.

Phield still remembered how, when he had been penniless and powerless, all he had wanted was permission to pass through the fortress.

Richard had refused without hesitation.

He had mocked him, humiliated him, and even plotted against him.

Not long ago, Richard had personally launched an invasion of Nightfall Domain.

There was no possibility of reconciliation between them anymore.

Before Richard could even begin to beg for mercy, he heard Phield’s decisive order echo from the battlements.

"Kill every last one of them."

Phield let out a cold snort.

He could not even be bothered to interrogate them.

Every magic tower surrounding the barbican lit up simultaneously with dazzling brilliance.

"No!"

"Phield, you can’t kill a noble!"

Richard roared hysterically.

"I’ve never wronged you!"

"You despicable bastard!"

"The entire world will despise you!"

An overwhelming barrage instantly engulfed Richard and his army in a sea of blazing explosions.

Countless people screamed and cursed, but every sound was swallowed by the deafening blasts.

All Phield could see were severed limbs flying through the air.

"Good!"

"Excellent!"

"Traitors deserve exactly this!"

Annie Rui gritted her teeth.

She laughed one moment and cried the next, pounding the wall repeatedly while shouting herself hoarse in uncontrollable excitement.

She had never expected Phield to keep his promise.

Not only had he truly been capable of killing Richard, it had been far easier than she had ever imagined.

The fortress defenses continued bombarding the barbican for a full fifteen minutes.

Only then did Phield raise a clenched fist.

"That’s enough."

"Cease fire."

"We still need those magic cores for people who actually need them."

The magic towers were powered by magic cores.

They could not generate energy indefinitely.

Looking down, the entire barbican had become a scene of utter devastation.

Richard and his soldiers had possessed no means of defense whatsoever.

Most of them had been burned into blackened corpses.

Only Richard’s upper body remained relatively intact.

"A divine artifact."

Rosalia folded her arms across her chest.

"No wonder he managed to leave behind half a corpse."

A hammer-shaped divine artifact slowly floated out from in front of Richard’s remains.

Naturally, it had once belonged to Richard’s mother.

"Something’s not right."

Phield frowned as he carefully scanned the battlefield.

"It feels like something’s missing."

He ordered a squad of soldiers to search the area twice.

After confirming there were no survivors, he retrieved the hammer-shaped divine artifact.

Once the artifact acknowledged him as its temporary master, new information flowed into his mind.

Name: Platinum Guardian’s Hammer (Third Tier Divine Artifact)

Origin: War Goddess, a branch of the God of War lineage known as the Hammer Goddess.

Description: A massive war hammer engraved with the Divine Proclamation across its entire body. Evil beings cannot look directly upon it. It inflicts additional damage against wicked creatures.

Ability: Unlocks upon being obtained by a Divine Chosen of the War God lineage.

"What a pity."

"I don’t have a War God Divine Chosen."

"I wonder if Gherlos could use it."

More importantly, this was a heavy weapon designed for breaking battle formations in infantry combat.

It simply wasn’t suitable for him.

What kind of baron charged into battle carrying a giant hammer instead of riding a horse?

He would be focused down into minced meat before reaching the enemy.

"So that’s how the War God lineage works."

"The inheritance really is unusual."

"It actually branches off like this."

"I’d better write it down."

Phield took out his notebook and carefully recorded the information about the newly discovered divine lineage.

"Rosalia."

"This artifact is yours."

"Eat it."

"If I remember correctly, your Incarnate Synergy Battle is already close to twenty percent."

He opened Rosalia’s status panel.

Incarnate Synergy Battle

Current Unlock Progress: 16%

Corruption Divine Power +15%

Strength +10%

Poison Attribute Divine Power Resistance +8%

"Huh?"

"You’re giving it to me again?"

Rosalia scratched her head.

"If the other girls find out, they’ll get jealous."

Her cheeks turned slightly red as she pretended to be embarrassed.

The smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, however, never disappeared.

"You really don’t have to."

"I appreciate the thought."

Without another word, Phield severed his spiritual connection with the divine artifact.

"Don’t overthink it."

"No one but you can digest this artifact anyway."

He spread his hands helplessly.

"Besides, if we lose this war, jealousy will be the least of our concerns."

"We’ll probably all end up dead."

"...Alright."

Rosalia accepted the hammer and tossed it into the dimensional rift.

The sound of metal being chewed echoed from within.

The next instant, a dragon’s roar that seemed to come from the abyss reverberated through the air.

Space itself split apart.

A second enormous dragon arm slowly emerged from the crack.

Wrapped in heavy chains, it descended with overwhelming pressure like a king arriving upon the battlefield.

Phield could now clearly see the phantom of the Corrupted Dragon standing behind Rosalia.

As long as she continued devouring enough resources, the day she fully unlocked the entire dragon to fight alongside her no longer seemed far away.

He checked her Incarnate Synergy Battle progress again.

Incarnate Synergy Battle

Current Unlock Progress: 31%

Corruption Divine Power +15%

Strength +10%

Defense +5%

Poison Attribute Divine Power Resistance +8%

Deals an additional 5% damage against Justice-aligned creatures and Divine Chosen.

"...Seriously?"

"It specifically counters Justice-aligned beings?"

Phield wore an expression of complete disbelief.

"This is absurd."

"So my left Incarnate Synergy Battle arm is a defensive dragon arm."

Rosalia raised her left hand.

The enormous dragon arm immediately mirrored the motion.

With a single glance, Phield could tell the difference between the two dragon limbs.

The original dragon arm had long, slender claws that were clearly built for offense.

The newly unlocked arm hid its claws entirely.

Instead, it resembled an enormous gray-white shield covered in jagged scales and wrapped in vicious-looking chains.

"It’s alright, I guess."

"I still prefer attacking."

Rosalia casually patted the chains wrapped around the dragon arm.

"We’ll only know how useful it is after we actually use it."

Phield nodded in satisfaction.

Given Rosalia’s reckless fighting style, the more life-saving abilities she possessed, the better.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

He clapped his hands sharply.

"Wait."

"According to everything we know, Richard possessed the Slaughter Divine Chosen Polly."

"So why hasn’t she appeared?"

"You’re right."

Rosalia rose onto her tiptoes and looked around.

"The ground’s practically been burned to ashes, but we haven’t seen her anywhere."

"That’s strange."

"She never showed herself from beginning to end."

"Could she have died somewhere inside the Gray Mist?"

"Impossible."

Phield immediately became vigilant.

"Everyone, search the surrounding area immediately."

Although Nightfall Domain was overrun with undead, very few monsters there posed any real threat to a Divine Chosen.

At that very moment, on the road leading from Nightfall Domain toward Maple Leaf Fortress, a petite figure was sprinting forward at full speed.