Emperor of Steel

On a red pine tree which was 100 meters tall.

At the top, Luke was looking down at the procession of the Eorim army at the entrance of the Red Pine Forest.

They weren’t too sure of the forest, so the troops scouted the area in advance.

The zen users and scholars with excellent skills entered the forest and carefully examined it.

However, in preparation for that, Luke had already unfolded 8th level magic of Stealth magic, over the entire Symphonia troops.

The magic managed to completely hide the sound and appearance of the Symphonia troops, as well as the tense energy which the soldiers released, not even a Sword Sage would have been able to detect them.

“Hu hu hu, a little more, just a little more!”

Luke waited for them to completely enter the Red Pine forest before he ordered the attack.

-Attack!

The first message of magic was sent to the leading Gigant units.

The riders who already boarded their Gigants, moved it by injecting the mana into the core engine.

Kiiing-!

Woong-!

The sharp and magnificent sound of the core engine erupted at once in the quiet forest.

Gigant, breaking the branches revealing the enormous bodies, began running towards the enemies.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

“Wh-what is it?”

“It is an Iron Giant! The Iron Giants have appeared!”

The sudden appearance of the Gigants shocked the soldiers and Eorim.

It was because they were done in the preliminary scouting of the area, so they never thought that the enemy would still be hiding in the Red Pine forest.

Especially, when Iron Giants from the Northern continent were hiding.

Kwang! Pop!

The Gigants, which rushed and led the forces, launched the attack without even looking at the people.

The Gigants used in their swords to blow away the horses and the soldiers.

Among them, there was a Gigant who pulled out a beautiful tree and swung it at the people or took a rock and threw it.

“Achh!”

“Keeek!”

No matter how elite the soldiers were and how strong the Eorim were, they weren’t strong enough to deal with the Iron armored giants.

There were some generals who had reached the heights, but they were all in the middle of the line.

Therefore, in the surprise attack, the troops in front were wiped out helplessly.

“Stop them! Don’t back off!”

At last, the generals and the Hwang Bo clan members came out.

Count Reynard and Shirley and the other high ranking knights rushed along with the Blood Band warriors.

“Kuak! When are we going to get busy?”

“Oh ho ho! Do you men understand how long Shirley has waited for you? You will be having fun with us from now on, so be prepared!”

The Symphonia Knights were in a state of giving up their Gigants to their subordinates if it meant to have exciting battles with the Southerners.

They shortened the distance in no time and even ran to the opponent who they thought would be the strongest.

Boong! Kwang!

The halberd, wielded by Shirley, went towards the high ranking warrior of Eorim troops.

“Kuek! How powerful can this little girl be?!”

The warrior, who got pushed back because of the powerful blow from a little child.

Shirley looked short and was skinny on the outside, but she was a dwarf, a mixed-race, and her strength was a lot stronger than any human knight.

“Ho ho ho. I am the spear master of the Symphonia Kingdom, Viscount Shirley.”

“A beautiful girl! On such a skinny body!”

Shirley raised her halberd at the words of the man and went ahead to attack.

“What did you say?! Skinny body!?”

“Don’t feel that your surprise attack has been a success! In words you will understand, I Joyang learned the martial arts and spear skills of the Imperial family and will help them…”

“You ugly thing speaks a lot, huh!”

Shirley, who was annoyed, swung her halberd with aura.

And the warrior, who identified himself as Joyang, went for a strong counterattack to avoid Shirley’s attack.

Maybe it was because of mastering the spear skills of the Imperial family, his spear seemed strong.

However, Shirley didn’t get pushed back.

‘If I can’t win against such an attack, I’ll never be able to be strong enough to beat the Red Dragon King!’

Shirley, who resented Lee Yong-mu for being defeated, swung her halberd while grinding her teeth.

Cang! Cang! CanG!

Meanwhile, Count Reynard was exchanging fierce battles against another warrior of Eorim.

Wang-sang, he was the cousin of Wang-cheong, and the third strongest person of the Eorim troops.

If considered in Rhodesia Continent, the man could be between Sword Master and Sword Sage.

If the warrior had little more practical experience, he might have risen to the top of the Sword Master.

It was a difficult opponent for Reynard to deal with, who just recently reached the Advanced Sword Master level.

However, he struck the opponent constantly by neglecting his defense.

‘Kuk, what could they all be doing?’

Wang-sang was shocked at the great skills that Reynard was displaying.

He knew that there were a lot of gaps which Reynard was giving to them, however, he didn’t have the time to react for a counterattack after blocking.

It was the result of Reynard’s constant battles with Luke, he managed to learn how to deal when battling with strong men.

‘Kuakk, Your Majesty said when dealing with an enemy stronger than myself, he said to not choose any other techniques, but to make sure that the opponent doesn’t use any skills on us.’

One could only win when a situation was created where the strongest ones turn incapable.

It was Luke’s advice to all the Sword Masters in the Symphonia Kingdom.

Following the advice, the Sword Masters including Hwang Bo-sung, began to develop their own methods.

Some studied joint attacks with their colleagues, while the others studied how to gain time by thoroughly defending.

It might seem cowardly, but war wasn’t a play game, so everyone tried to find the best suitable attack for them.

Among them, Count Reynard’s development was to grab onto the initial attack and keep on attacking the man.

It was named ‘Beast Sword’—because the trajectory of the sword would follow the instincts of a beast.

Of course, there were numerous loopholes in it.

It was because if the opponent ended up being a lot stronger, and could play excellent defense, the possibility of his offensive streak would end up as a failure.

However, the man he was dealing with was on the borderline of strength.

It was because there wasn’t much difference from Count Reynard when it came to skill and martial arts that focused on the offensive, so he couldn’t do much when on a defensive stance.

Deprived of the momentum, the warrior was on the defensive stance not being able to showcase his strength.

‘Um, everyone seems to be fighting well.’

Luke was standing on the tallest tree.

He looked around the battlefield and smiled. It was because the subordinates were battling a lot stronger than he imagined.

Honestly, just riding the Gigant was enough to take down all those warriors. The power of Gigant was enough to deal with almost everyone, except for the men who were absolute power holders.

However, what actually happened, Count Reynard, Shirley, and other senior knights were all giving up their Gigants to fight with the warriors.

It ended up making Luke confused.

Even if he wasn’t sure, the Southerners seemed to be stronger than the Northerners when it came to martial arts.

It was because the southerners had their own world of warriors called Moorim, and they were strong.

Unlike the Northern Continent, which emphasized on the use of group combat, weapons, and military tactics, the Southerners had warriors who developed their own skills for their own selves, and their clans would keep the skills alive.

There were a lot of excellent people who were still rising in martial arts, and even more people who were nearing the zenith level.

But in the end, Luke went along with what his men wanted.

It was because he wanted his men to bloom.

In order for them to develop new skills, they had to enter real battles instead of training battles.

So he wasn’t worried.

It was because he believed in the teaching he gave to his knights.

‘But I don’t see Sir Hwang Bo-sung. Where is he?’

Luke was puzzled when he didn’t see Hwang Bo-sung along with Reynard and the others.

So he glanced through the woods, and found him in front of the most gorgeous wagon, with his eyes fixed on it.

‘The one with Hwang Bo-kwang? Didn’t he try to kill Hwang Bo-sung to take control of the family…?’

Hwang Bo-sung, who almost died because of the poison and curse, said he would abandon his family and loyalty to stand by Luke.

However, Kang Ho clans always prioritized their own blood, so Hwang Bo-sung couldn’t hold himself back.

‘Well, in order to see the end, we will have to clear up the nasty obstacles first.’

Luke, who thought so, sent word to the general in the Eorim troops, Wang-cheong, who was a golden warrior by magic.

Wang-cheong, who received the message through magic trembled for a moment and stiffened completely.

‘Are you the man behind the ambush?’

-There is nothing to be so nervous about. Instead, rejoice, you have the opportunity to face the enemy leader.

Despite Luke’s attempt to calm him, Wang-cheong didn’t relax.

The sweat on his hand only increased.

In front of him was a brilliant man, with eyes shining bright because of the energy around him.