Emperor of Steel

Grrrng!

Grrrng! – Grrrng!

Near the southern highway leading from the Milton Kingdom to Rakan estates.

Until the start of the civil war, it was a road that was used by the merchants extremely, but currently, troops were moving around.

With hundreds of cavalry moving around and a dozen of trailers, they were a special transport for the Milton Kingdom.

The mission to deliver 50 Knight class Gigants from the Volga Republic as a sign of alliance gift.

‘If we get these there, we can turn over the battle at once?’

The captain of transport, Baron Lovett thought seeing the surrounded Gigants being oiled on the trailers.

According to the news, Milton’s army had stopped their advancement in a town called Batern and was struggling because of the Rakan’s defense forces.

Baron’s brother in law was in the knight’s guard, and because of that, his wife and mother-in-law were worried that something would happen to the kid.

‘I don’t know from where these were bought, but if the Gigant arrives there, the situation will take a 180-degree change. 50 Knight class Gigants are a tremendous amount of power.’

Which was why the nobles wanting for the battle were confident.

Because of the monsters and the bandits, the nation of Milton was an open book, and with all the Gigants being taken to the battlefield created a ruckus.

In fact, there were cases of a few lords stealing Gigants in the night to help their regions.

And because of such situations, Baron Lovett couldn’t sleep at night.

“Speed up everyone! Just a little further, it is the land of Rakan! Our allies are waiting over there!”

At his command, the soldiers sped up their horses.

How long where they on the move?

When a large wagon blocked the road in the middle.

‘What is that? An accident?’

The wagon seemed to have been damaged and a noblewoman was scolding her attendants.

A red-haired noblewoman, who seemed to be in her mid-twenties and was quite a beauty with her slender body.

And because of that, Baron Lovett couldn’t take his eyes off the lady.

Normally, anyone would pretend to be kind to the lady and then try to get the noble lady.

But he was on a very important mission.

So he gave out orders to his lieutenant immediately.

“Go quick and move that wagon.”

“Yes, Baron!”

The lieutenant, who took in strong soldiers, approached the wagon.

But the noblewoman and her party who saw the men approaching them picked up their bows and swords and attacked the lieutenant’s party.

‘Are they crazy?’

When Baron Lovett was shocked, men began to appear from both sides of the road with their bows.

‘What is this? Are they the enemy forces?’

They didn’t seem to be bandits from their clothes.

However, he didn’t have the time to guess who the men were, he had to avoid the incoming arrows.

Shoot!

“Kuak!”

“I, it is an attack!”

Due to the surprise attack, dozens of the troopers fell in an instant.

Baron Lovett who defended himself from the arrows ordered his soldiers.

“Don’t panic! There isn’t much number to the enemies!”

The cavalry hurriedly moved.

However, there was no way to hit the enemy troops who were moving among the trees.

Moreover, the red-haired noblewoman with a bow, the one whom the Baron was struck because of the beauty, was amazing.

She was able to load three to four arrows at a time to shoot the bow, and yet she didn’t miss a single target.

‘A Bow Expert?’

Baron, who wanted to do something, began to use his aura and went towards the red-haired wench on his horse.

Du Du Du Du!

The red-haired lady shot two arrows at baron Lovett who came in towards her.

The horse Baron was on got hit, the Baron managed to block one arrow, but the horse’s leg got hit.

Heeeing!

The horse which got hit rolled on the street.

“Hmm!”

Baron Lovett who jumped from the saddle before the horse fell, struck the sword with a lightning speed at the neck of the woman.

Although she had excellent archery skills, he thought that his attack would be much faster on her.

But, the woman swayed to another side and avoided his attack!

Moreover, she struck arrows right at the Baron.

An arrow aimed right for his face.

The distance between them was so close that the Baron could never avoid it.

“Hohho. Checkmate! The courage was great, but too reckless, Baron Lovett.”

“Keuk, you know my name, who the hell are you?”

“Is there any need for you to know? You are just going to be dead anyway.”

Along with that, she pulled on the bowstring.

‘Dammit, this is the end.’

It was when Baron Lovett closed his eyes with grief.

Swoosh!

An ice arrow came flying in towards the woman.

The moment the woman was surprised, a wizard appeared from the other side of the road and used magic.

Kang! Kwang!

“Dammit, War mage. Run away!”

As the flames broke all over the bush, the enemy’s forces fled.

The red-haired woman with a sad face escaped into the forest.

“Don’t chase them! Stand by your location!”

When the men tried to chase after them, Baron Lovett hurriedly asked them to refrain.

It was dangerous to enter the thick forests with horses.

In addition, when he started on the journey, Viscount Mager said that he should never let the Gigants be alone.

“Are you alright?”

A young War mage, who just used the magic rushed over to Lovett with the mercenaries.

“Thank you for helping me out. I am Baron Shaylon de Lovett who is in charge of the transport. And you?”

“I am Lou, the head of Minerva mercenaries. I am currently employed in the Milton Kingdom army and in charge of the highway.”

“Hm, is that so?”

Currently, for the purpose of resolving the lack of guards and security, the lords were hiring mercenaries saying they would be paid back after the return.

Normally, the monsters or the bandits had to be subdued, but with the King’s army out for invasion, the roads had been guarded by the mercenaries to save power and add troops.

And on the way to Rakan, Baron Lovett saw such mercenaries.

“Who were those men just now? They don’t seem to be any normal group of rouges.”

“Maybe a unit of the Marquis Rakan who infiltrated our nation.”

“A unit…”

Lou looked at the ‘stuff’ on the trailer and nodded as if he understood.

It was because he could guess what the items were from the silhouette and size.

“Anyway, we will accompany you to the next gate. They might attack again.”

“Yes, please.”

The troops cleared the injured, and buried the dead and began to move again.

Baron Lovett talked to Lou who was beside him.

“You seem to be a young man, but you have great skill.”

“I used to work in the Rokid Magic tower in the past. It got ruined during the Battle of Magic Tower.”

Seeing the dark expression of Lou, Baron Lovett nodded his head.

The collapse of the Magic Federation and the destruction of the Veritas Magic tower prevented the enhancements in magic.

The top ten magic towers were ruined and many of the other magic towers fired their wizards.

Which caused wizards to wander away.

Some were recruited into noble families, but there were those who worked as mercenaries.

“Anyway, I’ll make sure to report about your help to me. I’m sure that you will get a huge prize for it. Maybe you can get into our Royal Magic Tower.”

“I hope so. I’d like that to happen.”

As they went on talking, the sun faded.

Normally, it was necessary to arrive at the gate before sunset, but due to the attack which happened, the time got delayed.

“Everyone stop. Take a break over here for a while.”

Baron Lovett planned to get to the gate by night, but he had no intention of rushing the men.

It was because only in good spirits can people walk and even withstand the attacks from the enemies.

When the order was issued, the horses were all gathered and fires were made out of small branches.

Lou and the Minerva mercenaries too helped.

Baron Lovett saw Lou and his men spraying dried leaves on the bonfire.

“What is that?”

“It is a herb from my hometown. If it is used in the fires, it will help relieve the fatigue gathered in the day.”

“Really? It surely is clearing my mind.”

The cloud of smoke from the bonfire spread lightly.

Even the soldiers who were active began to feel their body refreshed.

But that was all for a moment.

“W, what is this? Why is my body!?”

“My body isn’t moving!”

Everyone felt their bodies turn heavy and sat on the ground, and a few fell down unconscious with bubbles coming out of their mouths.

Only Lou and the Minerva troops were fine.

They had already taken the antidote in advance, so the herb didn’t have any effect on them.

“Tch. You trust people too much, Baron.”

“Keuk! You coward…!”

After seeing Lou smile, Baron Lovett knew that he was hit.

He took the sword and tried to move.

Baron was paralyzed but he was an expert, so he managed to move a little.

But standing up was the only thing he could do.

Lou hit him with magic and the man fell immediately.

“Yeah, are you part of the enemy’s unit?”

“Not a part, but the commander.”

“What? Then, you are Marquis Luke…?”

“Now that you know, sleep tight.”

Lou, well, Luke slammed his fist, and Baron Lovett could just look.

“Lord, I took care of everything.”

“You did well.”

The knight accompanying Luke knocked down the enemies who didn’t fall unconscious with the herb.

When the situation got settled, Scarlet and her men appeared.

“You people too worked hard.”

“But, why did we have to do all this?”

Scarlet, who was dressed as a noblewoman, asked her doubt.

Their target was the Knight class Gigants which the enemy was bringing in.

So, for Scarlet, killing everyone and taking down the units was easy.

“This is why I said I had to careful.”

Luke saying that, tore off the fabric from the Gigant and showed it.

And showed the scrolls attached to the Gigants.

“This… I think it is similar to the explosion scroll?”

Said Scarlet looking at the scrolls.

“Right. But more sophisticated than that. It senses the surroundings and then reacts.”

Scarlet and the subordinates didn’t seem to understand.

Luke then dragged the fallen Baron Lovett and kicked his arm.

And a tattoo began to form on his arm showing the pattern which was on the scroll.

“This is a magic tattoo engraved on the other soldiers too. The scrolls are interlocked with the Gigants and the men. So, if more than half of the soldiers die in the attacks…”

“Ah! The scroll detects it and explodes. Of course, the Gigants wouldn’t be taken away by others!”

“Right. I don’t know who did this, but they planned it very well.”

In fact, Luke was actually thinking about taking over the Gigant unit with Scarlet’s troops by raiding the enemy forces.

However, he sensed some manage between the soldiers and the Gigants.

“Moreover, it triggered if the distance between them is too far. So I had to intercept it like this.”

“Is it removable?”

“Yes, but it will take some time.”

It was estimated that around a 7 circle wizard was the one to do the magic.

Perhaps, the one was a court Wizards of the Milton Kingdom or the Meister of the Royal Magic Tower.

Luke was in the 8th Magic Circle.

He immediately pulled up the magic and tried to find the magic structures used to remove the self-destruct.

“Kay, now we need to pick them up.”

Luke immediately opened his sub space bracelet and put in the Gigants.

Scarlet and her men were shocked at what they witnessed.

“You have such an amazing magic item?”

“Of course. Did you think that I wouldn’t have such treasures in my mighty family?”

Although it was the legacy of the Devil King.

Luke managed to get the work done and told his men to leave.

Without leaving any trace behind, everyone left.