Emperor of Steel

“Are you alright?” Luke pulled the Gigant’s hatch and asked Philip, who was crawling out.

“Not okay. My entire body feels like it is dying.”

“Huh, seeing that you can still run your mouth, I guess you are alright.”

Luke got up and looked to the other side.

Just as he had opened the hatch of Philip’s Gigant, the opponent’s Gigant’s hatch had been opened as well, and a little girl had walked out.

Everything about her seemed alright except for her pale complexion.

She was frustrated. She got up from her seat and jumped on her feet, making her lose her balance.

After seeing that, Luke laughed and turned toward Philip.

“Tch, you couldn’t beat just one kid.”

“Don’t put it like that! She is one real monster kid! If I wasn’t able to block that last attack, I would have been on a rainbow bridge crossing over to the next side!”

“Yes, that last strike. Was that the Gold Sword?” Luke asked.

“Huk!”

Philip’s face went hard.

It was because he never thought that Luke would be able to see the last attacks due to the dust flying around.

In order for the attack to not catch the eyes of the others, Philip used it in a brief moment once the opponent’s Gigant approached him. However, Luke seemed to have caught his trick.

“Well, I forgive you since no one else seems to have understood what happened, but the next time you decide to ignore my order, I am sending you back to the lordship.”

“So-sorry.”

Luke turned away from Philip, who bowed his head and apologized.

“Well, whatever… Should I also get inside?”

“You want to enter?”

“After seeing you fight, my blood couldn’t stop boiling.”

Since his rebirth, Luke had been constantly unable to overcome his occasional exhilaration and enthusiasm.

That was why he hopped into his Gigant and moved.

The Gigant with the flaky and rusty gloves was Kratos.

It was fine for people to see a knight class Gigant once in a while, but if a mercenary brought a hero class Gigant, then people would surely know something was wrong, which was why Luke deliberately peeled off the paint and oxidized the surface of his Gigant’s gloves.

Thanks to that, Kratos looked nothing less than a piece of junk.

Luke made sure to control the Gigant’s core as well so that no one would be aware of it having a 3000 fight.

Thump!

When Kratos entered the field, Marquis Valentino couldn’t hide how flustered he was.

“What is that crumbly scrap of metal?”

“Yes! That is the Gigant of my servant Lev.”

Count Marcus was disappointed with how Philip’s match turned out and answered the questions honestly this time.

This time he thought that rather than lying, trying to show appeal would be a better approach.

“He is a fallen noble and a great friend. Perhaps, the best of the experts, or maybe among the higher-level ones too.”

“Count Marcus.”

“Yes, chief commander?”

After the words were cut off by Valentino, Marcus was feeling extremely anxious. Because if Lev lost, Marcus would be at a huge disadvantage.

Unexpectedly, disgrace flew his way.

“You should be taking good care of your lad! What is with that Gigant? Are you spending your money on worthless sh*t?”

“That… Because he seemed to be very familiar with…”

While Marcus was being drenched in sweat in front of the chief commander, Luke had gone out of the camp and swung his huge sword, waiting for his enemy to appear.

Shortly afterward, one of the knights from the opponent’s side entered the battle.

“I am Clarks of Maron, a senior paladin. Please let me know your name.”

“Lev, captain of the Red Wolf Mercenaries”

The two of them identified themselves in the battle.

They didn’t rush in and carefully gauged each other’s skills and power.

“Clarks? Isn’t he one of the famous paladins in Maron?”

“Yes, his swordsmanship skills are comparable to the Saint Guards.”

“Tch, the rider of that piece of junk met the wrong person.”

“Maybe he’ll get cut down in no time.”

Most of the rebels and even the Anti-Revolutionary men were sure of Clarks’ victory.

And just as expected, the battle was over in the blink of an eye.

Skak!

The two Gigants crossed swords, making an eerie sound.

The soldiers jumped up at the sound of the huge swords, and they all looked to see the outcome.

Clarks’ Gigant, which everyone thought would win, had fallen. His Gigant was horizontally cut in half.

Luke’s sword cut through the breastplate and the controls of Clarks’ Gigant. That was why Clarks had ended up screaming.

“Oh, Oh my god!”

“In just a second, Clarks died!”

The emergence of a new strong man.

Also from an unknown mercenary group.

As the men’s amazement settled in, the shouts of the Anti-Revolutionary Army reached the skies.

However, on the other side, the Konrad Kingdom and the walls of Eisenberg sheltered heavy silence.

“That guy isn’t a normal mercenary.”

“Isn’t he a knight from another nation like us?”

At the question of Shirley, Count Ferrero nodded.

Of course, he was no ordinary rider. Although he had disguised the Gigant well, it was still a hero class Gigant.

“I guess I have to go out.”

“Don’t rush and wait it out. I feel like it will turn into trash very soon.”

“Trash?”

While Ferrero and Shirley were talking to each other, another Gigant had appeared from the Konrad Kingdom’s side.

Since he was a close acquaintance of Clarks, he attacked Luke right away.

He was much better than Clarks, but he couldn’t exceed five strikes and was knocked out.

“Wah! You’re doing great!”

“Win! Keep on winning!”

After his two consecutive wins, the soldiers began to cheer for Luke.

Since they won after experiencing 8 consecutive losses, their screams were like wildfire.

In order to bring down their morale, a Gigant with a large cape appeared from Konrad’s camp.

As he calmly approached Luke and Kratos, he opened his mouth with a dismal voice.

“I am Count Schmidt, the commander Konrad Kingdom’s knights.”

There was a lot of grumbling going on in the watchtowers as they heard of the challenger’s name. They couldn’t imagine that such an unexpected person would appear.

“Schmidt?”

“He is the former commander of the Saint Guards in the past, right?”

Ten years ago, there were serial murders which were overturning Bless.

For months, dozens of priestesses, who went to pray at dawn, were slaughtered, and most of the murdered ones included senior nobles.

The killer left words on the scene, saying that his actions were for a noble cause.

‘The world is rotten. The only way to get along with ugly men was to purify one’s soul by abandoning its filthy body. Only me, the one chosen by God, can do that.’

Naturally, the temple went crazy to catch the killer, and even the former pope ordered for the killer to be caught.

However, a surprising fact had turned out in the process. The culprit was known to be one of the members of the 1st squadron of the Saint Guards.

Count Schmidt from the 1st squadron of the Saint Guards pretended to be a sincere paladin at heart but was hiding a cruel and vicious nature from the others.

After his last crime, Schmidt sacked the paladins who had gone to arrest him.

There were many rumors that he had fled to a neighboring country or that he had been killed by Grand Duke Gregory, but one thing was certain.

No one had ever seen him in the Holy Empire.

However, for the same Schmidt to appear at the walls…

“Kuk! I am glad that there are audiences who recognize me. If you want a clean death, I can go for your neck.”

Years ago, Count Schmidt was a Sword Master.

Even if his skills didn’t increase much, he still wasn’t a person whom a normal mercenary captain could deal with.

However, Luke seemed calm.

“I can surely cut off your neck too, but I wonder if your dirty sword can even get close to my neck,” said Luke.

“Shameless! I think you have confused yourself into thinking that you beat the two men before me. Listen to me, I will cut off your arms first and then your legs. Then I’ll remove your eyes. I’ll cut your stomach and take out your bowels one after the other. Lastly, I would look at how swollen your…”

As Count Schmidt grinned and explained how he would handle Luke.

“That is troublesome. Did you even rise from the Sword Master title?”

“You seemed to be much confident than I thought. Okay, I’ll show you my special ‘Stinger Sword’.”

Count Schmidt’s weapon was a powerful Assaulter spreading over 3,000 fights.

When hit by his Assaulter, quite a few of his opponents had disintegrated inside their Gigants.

It was difficult to avoid since his Assaulter was fast, and he could switch his movements back and forth.

In the past, when he was still in the Saint Guard, Grand Duke Gregory admired his sword skills as well.

Wooong!

While leaning back, the count struck a pose.

Before him, a red aura began to rise at the end of the deformed giant sword, which was built for piercing its opponents.

The gigantic aura grew larger and thicker, expanding till it became 1 meter in diameter.

Its thickness increased as well as it expanded.

‘Huhuhu, even if you are a Sword Master, there is no way an Assaulter could be stopped.’

Schmidt often had friendly battles with Sword Masters in the past.

They were all excellent swordsmen, but none of them could avoid the Stinger Sword.

Feeling the unpleasant energy from Count Schmidt, Luke raised the output of Kratos to its maximum.