Emperor of Steel

After a three-day march from the Torlot Fortress, the Northern Army reached the wasteland which was a day away from Krom.

“We’ll rest here for today, and be on move tomorrow.”

Three days on the street with no break, no matter how much of a classified elite one was, they would need to rest.

So, Count Naiman ordered them to take a break and asked them to get a goodnight’s sleep.

Excited with it, the soldiers had a simple meal of beef jerky and dry bread, then put on their blankets and drifted into sleep.

Once they were all snoring, Count Naiman asked the lieutenant,

“What is the status of Krom?”

“Enemy hasn’t made their appearance yet.”

“Phew, that is one thing to feel good about.”

The city of Krom had only a minimal troop at the moment.

When Count Naiman entered the wasteland he was informed that two more estates had been taken down.

The actions of the Republic forces were quick and unrelenting.

If the enemy was left along any longer, the entire Northern part of the empire, including Krom, may be destroyed.

‘Who the hell are we dealing with? And how did they even manage to get so many troops over the Castia mountain?’

If the empire was able to find out how the Republic forces managed to cross the Castia mountain, they could use that path too.

Count Naiman was in deep thoughts.

Suddenly, wild flames rose from the forest which was surrounding the wasteland.

“What, what is that?”

“Wildfire? Come on, put it off… ah!”

An arrow was stuck in the neck of an officer who was directing the troops.

Following it, numerous arrows began to pour out from the shadows.

“Surp, surprise attack! An ambush!”

“Everyone, up, now!”

The wasteland, which the Northern army had occupied for the night, was located at the edge of the forest from the path to Krom.

It was a shortcut which would take as less time as possible to reach the city of Krom, the scouts had looked around and then confirmed that there was no enemy around.

With the myriad of arrows flowing in, the soldiers kept on falling down.

Among the arrows were quite a lot of fire arrows, so the flames spread out to the camps.

In addition, with the fire, shells began to pour in from all the directions.

Bang! BaBang! Kwang!

“Kaaah!”

“Kiak!”

“Fight back! Don’t be taken down! Unite with your units and fight back!”

There was a great deal of confusion among the Northern army who had suddenly awoken from their sleep.

From the Count, officers and knights tried to get hold of the soldiers and calm them as much as possible, but the confusion and haze didn’t seem so easy to calm.

“Dammit, what are the riders doing? Get into the Gigants right away and take down the enemy troop!”

Oooo! Woong!

At the cry from Naiman, the eyes of a Gigant with a huge body flashed from the woods.

But the Gigants which began to appear from the forest weren’t part of the Baroque Empire.

The steel Gigant painted with dark green paint and red crest on the breastplate were the Republic forces led by Duke Dimitry.

“Hahaha! Sweep them all! Trample on them!”

Over a hundred Gigants, upon the orders from Dimitry, pulled out their huge swords and began to trample the Imperial army camp.

Kung!

The heavy steel Gigant’s who were sweeping their huge swords weren’t anything less than the Grim Reaper himself.

“Ahh! Run away!”

“What…?!”

The only thing the Northern army could do against the enemy Gigant was to run with screams.

Seeing the disaster which was happening, Count Naiman could only shout out of anger,

“Kaak! What are the Gigants of our side doing?! Go ahead and stop their scrap of metals!”

With the screaming of Count Naiman, over two hundred Gigants of the Imperial side began to fight against the Republic forces.

Kwaa!

Kaka!

Kaaaak!

In a narrow wasteland, two sides were fighting with a collective number of 300 Gigants, wielding their weapons at full power.

The sounds of the gloves breaking could be heard all over, the huge sparks of big swords colliding could be seen.

The ground was tense for a while, and then the battle began to lean towards the Republic’s side.

If the headcount was considered, the number of Gigants of the Imperial Army was twice the troops.

But during the raid, the Imperial riders were in panic. The Republican Gigants had a knight-level Gigants with 2,000 fight output, and their riders were excellent.

In addition, the leader of the Republic force was Duke Dimitry.

He watched over the Imperial army which was in front of his eyes.

“Hahaha! You guys dare to stop me!?”

Duke Dimitry, who was devastating the entire enemy camp, shouted with excitement.

Every time he wielded the huge sword, a long aura on the sword of the Gigant sparked within the dark knight and hit the Imperial forces.

“Hiik! Mons, monster!”

“That could be the High-Advanced Sword Master, no he must be the Sword Sage!”

“Everyone, be careful!”

Five of the Imperial army Gigants had gathered in front of Duke Dimitry.

If he was left alone, Dimitry could take down the entire camp, so those who were capable enough came out.

“Huh, you’re intentions are good, but you people look down on me too much!”

Grrrrng!

When Dimitry moved his huge sword with the speed of lightning, a thunderous sound fell.

With five Gigants bouncing off in unison, like being caught in the center of an explosion.

All five bounced off Gigants were broken, tattered and it was almost impossible to see what had happened to the riders inside them.

“Sh*t, Dammit! Move back!”

“Don’t deal with it all alone, unite everyone and try!”

Despite being faced with overwhelming forces and power, the Northern army fought.

The Duke, however, wasn’t considering any of it.

His Gigant was throwing and plunging things, it was like a lion heading into a flock of deer for food.

“Keuk, maybe Jerdin will show up here!”

Spoke the Count to himself while witnessing the battle.

The head of the Gigant was bigger than the regular Gigants, and the power output seemed to be over 3,00 fight.

It was very clear that there was only one Hero-class Gigant, the Jerdin in the Volga Republic.

Jerdin was introduced into the Volga by the past royal family, and it was currently being used by Duke Dimitry, the Republic Forces, foremost swordsman.

“Then, the rider is surely the one called Duke Dimitry…”

Count Naiman thought that the Republic would send a Sword Master for their ambush operation.

However, he had never imagined that Dimitry, who had never set foot outside the Volga capital since the revolution, would suddenly decide to join the war.

“What about it? Can you deal with it?” Asked Naiman.

The count gazed up to the massive Gigant which stood next to him.

The heavy voice of the man inside the Gigant came out.

“It is hard to win, but I can buy us some time.”

The rider in it was called Count Kyle, the hawk of the north, a gladiator.

He was the only Sword Master in the Northern Army, he was prepared to face the Sword Master of the enemy.

Although he was a great swordsman in battle, if the opponent was an advanced Sword Master, the damage could be huge.

That was why, it was best to bring in someone the enemy didn’t have, which was why Kyle had been summoned, even though he was busy in another place.

Count Kyle wasn’t in the military, he was a part of the military. He was free to practice and was able to compete in the war because he was asked by Emperor Rudolf.

Emperor Rudolf had offered him a lot in return for it.

There were seven Sword Masters in the Empire.

And it was just 10 years since Count Kyle had become a Sword Master, and he wasn’t that skilled.

“If I was asked to fight with Dimitry with just my sword skill, then I won’t be enough. But with the help of this new hero-class Gigant, that the majesty had specifically paid for, there is nothing impossible.”

The one Kyle was using currently was the 3500 fight, recently completed Atlas of the Veritas Magic Tower.

Jerdin, on the other hand was more than thirty years old, and it couldn’t be guaranteed if they could fully utilize it.

Thus, Count Kyle was optimistic that he could make it up for his shortcomings with the new Gigant’s performance.

“Then, please.” Said Count Naiman.

“Leave it to me.”

Count Kyle pushed ahead with his Atlas towards Jerdin, who was plundering the imperial army.

With calmness, Count Naiman hoped that the army would be able to revert back and get a victory on their side.

Although they were lost with the surprise attack, the number of troops were still twice the enemy troops.

Therefore, they could still create a chance to change the battle flow, so Count Naiman decided to make up for the damage and win over.

‘To do that, Count Kyle needs to do his best! Be sure to defeat Duke Dimitry!’