Emperor of Steel

“Oh my god! A ghost armor…”

Zegal Moon, who was treating his men that got poisoned by the moths, was shocked.

The ghost armor was a vicious technique of the Apostasy that transformed dead souls and make them into an armor.

It didn’t just stop any zen attacks, but it also had the ability to increase the combat ability of the caster by several times.

‘Is that man really a descendant of the Apostasy?’

Without knowing who the man was, Zegal Moon couldn’t help but think.

However, Arsene was able to use the technique of the Apostasy as he had been studying about them for 200 years.

He was in a state where white or dark magic more than 9th circle couldn’t be achieved.

And so he pursued stronger powers. He reached out to the ancient witchcraft of the Southern Continent.

During that time, the Southern Continent was at war between the Moorim and the Apostasy.

A lot of Moorim clans had united to fight the Apostasies who ruled over Kang Ho.

After a long struggle, the apostasy fell, and Arsene secretly helped the escape of the eldest son of the Apsotasy leader and a few elders into the Hell Island.

The goal of Arsene was their Vision—secret.

With a little progress, he removed those remnants of the Apostasy, who became useless to him.

Well, he absorbed all of their vitality like he did with Terin.

That was why he could use Apostasy skills and strengthen their magic.

Kwank!

Luke’s tester, which got beaten to a pulp with just one hit, got smashed to the ground.

“Uh, Grace!”

As Luke’s Gigant got destroyed, a couple of houses got smashed in the Zegal clan. However, Zegal Moon was more concerned about Luke.

Though the tester got crushed miserably, fortunately, Luke seemed to be alive and kicking.

“Kuek, bastard! He is this strong?!”

Luke, who had been pushed back, tried very hard to stabilize the trembling black circle on his heart.

‘I expected this to some extent, but this is more than what I thought. Was he just playing with me till now?’

500 years ago, the man in front of Luke seemed to have turned into a real monster.

It wasn’t plain concern that High Elf Erenes had shown.

“Oh, you. Can still. Move? That. Warrior. Toy. Is pretty. Well. Made.”

While approaching Luke, Arsene mocked him.

Although he was mocking the man, Arsene was really admiring Luke’s Gigant, which had gotten crushed.

‘Which magic tower could have made this? The sound of the core engine is similar to that of our Magic tower…’

While Arsene was slightly curious, Luke quickly checked the condition of the tester.

‘The core engine’s ability has dropped to less than a half. The mana convertor’s condition isn’t normal, and the left shoulder joint is completely smashed. The right knee joints are broken too.’

And the swords were damaged as well.

Fortunately, the Demon Slayer sword was still safe.

However, the tester could no longer do battle.

Thanks to Kurgon’s carefully selected and best-made ingredients, Luke managed to escape the blow. If the Gigant was made with any low-quality ingredients, then he would have been the one to turn into a scrap.

‘What should I do? Can’t I do anything but just suffer like this?’

“What. Are. You. Doing? Are. You. Giving. Up. Already?”

Arsene made sarcastic remarks and attacked.

He was attacking using physical attacks earlier, but this time, he used a magic attack.

Gorgos’s body, which seemed to be burning with flames, flew toward Luke.

“Kuek, Blink!”

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

Luke kept using magic one after the other to avoid getting hit by Arsene.

He tried as much as he could to provide very little damage to the clan, but there was a limit to what one man could do.

The black flames destroyed everything it came in contact with.

Among the destroyed buildings was the shrine of Zegal and another shrine that was dedicated to the ancestors of the clan.

As the shrines and buildings kept falling down, the elders of Zegal shed tears of anguish.

“Kuek, get that man…!”

“No, don’t touch him yet.”

“Brother! No, isn’t this what needs to be done?!”

Zegal Moon shook his head at Zegal Do’s plea.

“How can I not be angry. There is one thing I wish… and that is for you be safe.”

The burned shrines and temples could all be built at a later time, but such things wouldn’t happen in the men in the clan that died while protecting things.

However, there were people who disagreed with his judgment.

“I respect the will of the Chief, but I can’t let my master struggle there alone.”

When Hwang Bo-sung got up, Zegal Soha too joined him.

“I will fight too.”

“Soha!”

“Brother, I can’t let the grace take the damage. In addition, this is the home of our family. Who will fight if not us?”

“But…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave you behind”

As Soha said, she and Hwang Bo-sung recovered a little from the previous fight.

And they were less exposed to the poison compared to Zegal Shin and Do.

“Understood. But don’t overdo it.”

Soha summoned her Puppet along with Hwang Bo-sung.

She normally didn’t like using her Puppet, but she knew that to fight someone like that monster, she would have to use it.

Hwang Bo-sung, who completed the summoning, flew toward Arsene’s Gorgos that was approaching Luke.

Grrrrng!

Gorgos, who had been hit by lightning, got pushed back a little.

“No. How. Dare. You?!”

Normally, Arsene should have been able to prevent the attack.

However, while he was approaching Luke who was acting like a squirrel, he was suddenly struck by an unexpectedly strong blow.

“I can’t let you do anything weird anymore!”

Zegal Soha wielded a giant sword from her Puppet against Gorgos’s body.

Hwang Bo-sung gave in constant blows too.

However, Gorgos’s body that was as soft as rubber absorbed the attacks and healed at an unexpected speed.

Although he didn’t get any serious wounds, Arsene was getting irritated with the constant attacks from the two people.

“You. Bugs. How. Dare. You?!”

With his long Gorgos arms, he struck the neck of Hwang Bo-sung’s Puppet.

Hwang Bo-sung used his arm to stop the attack.

Kwak!

“Keuk!”

Gorgos’s punch was strong enough to break Luke’s tester, and this time, it broke the arm of the Puppet.

Arsene didn’t stop there, he used the flames of Magi.

And the Puppet of Hwang Bo-sung quickly got caught in the flames.

“Hwang Bo-sung, sir!”

Zegal Soha hurriedly used both her swords toward Gorgos.

Shortly before her swords could reach him, Arsene used magic.

“Reflection!”

Kwang!

The sword bounced back against the barrier created by Arsene, and the legs of Soha’s Puppet got cut off.

Since he never expected her to get attacked so quickly, she was defenseless.

Arsene, who quickly overpowered the Puppets with his Gorgos’ arms, was ready to give them the final blow.

“Die. You. Bugs… Wait!”

“You are being too vigilant, Arsene.”

Luke’s voice came along with the black stems that soared around the body of Gorgos.

“T-this. Is. Black Bind?”

“Told you, right? There is no law that says only you can use such kind of magic.”

Thanks to Hwang Bo-sung and Zegal Soha, Luke was able to catch his breath and manage to get close to Arsene, who was distracted.

Having captured Gorgos with Black Bind, he began to absorb Arsene’s Magi.

“Uh. Uh. Uh. You!”

“I’ll absorb everything until your very core, Arsene!”

Being captured by Black Bind, one couldn’t easily break away from it without someone else’s help.

Smash!

At that moment, a tremendous force was applied onto the Black Bind that was around Gorgos, and it got cut.

Arsene suddenly manifested white magic.

“Oh, Anti-cancel?!”

“Kul. Kul. Kul! You. Gave. Me. A. good. Opportunity.”

Luke never thought that Arsene would have learned Anti-cancel, which was a skill specialized in destroying dark magic.

The situation got reversed once again because of that.

A black light flashed in front of Luke’s bewildered eyes.

Flash!

Gorgos’s light pierced through Luke’s defense and went straight through the breastplate up to the cockpit of Luke’s tester.