Emperor of Steel

“Shoot! Stop everyone who is going to climb the wall!”

Kwang! Bang! Bang!

The walls of the Yu-dong castle, where the general command of the Yemaek army was located, was filled with shouts and orders.

Arrows and shells of both armies were pouring in like the sky was showering down meteors and hail, the blood of the soldiers painted the walls and ground in dark red.

‘There is no end to them!’

Commander Eulji Dok-mun, who was in charge of the castle, trembled as he saw the enemies constantly come in like swarms of ants regardless of their attacks.

The enemy’s troops had suddenly approached them.

There was no report from the castles and forts which were ahead about the enemy troops which won over them.

Even if the forts were captured, the fort commanders would have raised a beacon to the sky in case the messenger wasn’t present, however, nothing happened.

It was almost as if they turned into ghosts.

But currently, the commander didn’t have the time to get upset at them.

“Commander, hundreds of enemy flags were placed on all our forts!”

At the report of the messenger who was scared, Eulji Dok-mun gave out orders.

“Send the men towards the archer troops!”

“But they are already in the field!”

“Then send in the Golden Warriors! The princess will allow it.”

The Golden Warriors were the troops who guarded the palace of Yemaek and an escort for the princess, So-hye—300 of them had come to Yu-dong castle.

Along with them, came Zegal Hui, who had come to Yemaek along with Jo Won-rak, and the fairy tribes from the Northern Continent who came to support them.

The moment they arrived, was just minutes before the Song army appeared outside the wall and tried to break the gates.

“Fire Blaster!”

“Magic Ball!”

“Strike!”

“Protect the city gates!”

Starting with the long-range attacks from the fairy wizards, the Golden Warriors and the fairy warriors attacked the army which managed to invade.

The Song army fought bravely, however, their opponents were way too good.

It was because the Golden Warriors were the masters who were chosen from the clans, and the fairy warriors were the best of their tribes.

They quickly defeated the Song army and protected the land.

“Phew, it was almost a huge hit for us.”

“I didn’t know that they would be able to work well with the regular soldiers and manage such huge numbers.”

Upon hearing the report from the messenger, Eulji Dok-mun sighed.

But he knew that it wasn’t the end.

The Song army later marked and hit the north, south, east, and west gates at the same time.

However, they only suffered losses from the counterattack of the Yemaek army, who managed to respond calmly and withdraw for a regroup.

Because of that, the morale of the Song army had fallen for a while, they temporarily suspended the attack on the Yu-dong castle and retreated.

“Phew, did it stop?”

“I think so. But how did they manage to suddenly appear in Yu-dong?”

“I am not sure either. Anyway, I hope that there won’t be any more siege for today.”

It was when the tired soldiers were sitting down and sighing of relief due to the halt in battle.

Suddenly, large and terrifying giants appeared from behind the Song troops’ army.

Seeing the giants, Yemaek soldiers were shocked.

“Wh-what is that?”

“It looks like a puppet?”

“No. The giant iron cased ones, they are the northern continent ones!”

Some well-aware troops spoke, they knew that it was the Gigants which had appeared behind the Song army.

Having that number of Puppets was rare, especially as the production of Puppets had been stopped by the Zegal Clan after the lack of Iron Core.

Well, even if that wasn’t the case, there was no reason for the Zegal Clan who was supporting Jo Won-rak’s side, help Jo Won-gyun.

And in spite of fear, when Jo Won-rak ran away to Yemaek, the men of the Zegal clan hid in a shelter which was prepared in advance.

For that reason, Jo Won-rak was unable to mobilize the large amount of Puppets needed for the war.

With enormous interests, the merchants of the Rhodesia continent who came for trade in the Southern Continent gave the Song troops the Gigants and the riders.

The Rhodesia merchants brought in one or two Gigants for the purpose of guarding their ships or their offices in the Southern Continent, and when all the Gigants borrowed were combined, there were as many as 30 Gigants.

Of course, the Gigants were very old compared to the active Gigants on the Rhodesia Continent.

They were as old as any Gigant could be.

However, Yemaek troops, who didn’t know the circumstances, were confused and frightened.

Moreover, the Gigants which Song Empire had borrowed looked quite good on the outside, but mostly because of the new paint on them.

“Commander! The Song troops have mobilized the iron clad Giants! What should we do?”

When asked by the lieutenant, Eulji Dok-mun couldn’t give out any orders.

It was because he knew that he would be the strongest one on the battlefield, however, it was the first time that he had been dealing with Gigants, therefore, the Puppet was not an exception.

He was embarrassed for a moment, however, he soon recovered his composure.

“Load the Skyrocket Guns!”

The Skyrocket Guns were the largest cannons in the Yemaek nation.

On land, they were mainly used for destroying the enemy siege weapons, such as chariots and towers.

“Do not shoot until I command. Do you understand?”

“Yes, commander!”

With the lieutenant going off, the Yemaek army began to move.

On the contrary, the Song Empire troops cheered as the Gigants rushed towards the Yu-dong castle while making huge sounds on the ground.

“Go ahead! Go and break those gates!”

“Show those monkeys a bitter taste of defeat!”

“Avenge the dead people on our side!”

The mercenary riders who controlled the Gigants seemed flustered at the screaming of the men from afar.

The only thing they had ever done was guard the ships with the Gigants or defend their own shops, it wasn’t like they weren’t without any war experiences, it just wasn’t a recent war.

In normal situations, troops would move along with Gigant and head for the enemy gates.

Gigant was a huge and easy target to hit.

“They don’t even know anything about the Gigant or its uses in battle.”

“I know. This is a Gigant which is used to support the artillery units and the warfare siege.”

“Well, the enemy soldiers are shocked, didn’t see that?”

“I see that. They are savages, so they don’t know a single thing about this…”

And it was an occasion for them to show how terrifying the Gigants were.

The mercenary riders, who were determined to show their skills, advanced towards the castle in their Gigants.

It was when the Gigants approached the castle walls.

In the ears of the Yemaek troops, who could only hear the sound of the enemy Gigants walking close to them by stomping on the ground, the voice of Eulji Dok-mun was soon heard.

“Burn it!”

“Fire-!”

At the fast command of their commander, the huge artillery appeared through the holes in the walls.

The moment they saw that, the Gigant riders immediately lifted the shields to prevent getting hit by the artillery shells.

Kwang! Bang!

Kang! Bang!

The powerful shells began to pour in from very close range, making the sound terrifying to hear.

Some shells managed to crack the shields and the gloves of the Gigants, and some smashed the legs and hand joints of the Gigants.

“Damn it! Don’t step back!”

A middle-aged mercenary rider, who was serving as the temporary commander of the Gigant unit, shouted.

If they managed to open the gates of the Yu-dong castle, they would be given a huge reward.

He decided that he would take the huge amount and enjoy his life as he had suffered a lot in recent years.

As a result, the mercenaries raised their broken shields and went moving ahead.

Thud! Bang!

The Gigants approached the gate and struck it with their hands and shoulders.

When the heavy Gigants collided with the gate, the reinforced steel thick plates shook like they would break any time.

“Th-this can’t be! Shoot the guns quickly and stop them!”

“Well, look commander! They are right under the wall, we won’t get the right angle to shoot them!”

“Damn it!”

When Eulji Dok-mun was down in frustration, the soldiers on the gates dropped huge stones or logs.

However, such tricks would work on the Gigants.

“Hahah. Stupid men. I won’t fall even if a hundred of them were thrown my way.”

It was when the rider was ridiculing the efforts of the men and was ready to hit the gate with one final blow.

Bang!

A huge thunderbolt fell from the sky with a roaring sound and power incomparable to any fire attack.

The Thunder Sword shattered the Gigant which was trying to break into the gate.

Startled, the Yemaek troops’ gaze went towards the woman who appeared on the castle balcony with Jo Won-rak.

With a sword in one hand and a handbell in the other, she was Princee So-hye—the daughter of King Biryu.

Ever since she was a child, she had been well-known for representing Yemaek as a warrior.

“Woah! The princess is here!”

“Our princess defeated that Iron giant!”

In midst of the cheers of the Yemaek army, So-hye kept striking the thunderbolt in succession while saying out the spells.

Krrrng! Kwang!

“Th-this can’t be! Retreat! Retreat right away!”

“F*ck! This is why we need artillery behind us!”

All of a sudden, the Gigant mercenaries who were being hit with lightning, began to retreat.

No matter how great the reward was going to be, it couldn’t be more precious than their own lives.

However, less than half of the Gigants managed to escape because they were hit by not just the lightning from princess So-hye, but also the shelling.

“The iron giants run away!”

“Hahah! The huge giants ran away losing their tails!”

The soldiers of the Yemaek army who saw the Gigant walk back shouted in joy because of the rise in their morale.

On the contrary, the soldiers of the Song Empire began to use abusive language at the Gigants which retreated.

This time, Gwan-chang, who was left in charge of the troops by Hwang Bo-kwang to defeat the Yemaek troops, was no exception to the booing of the Gigants.

“Bloody bastard! I thought that they were going to be useful, but they couldn’t even break a single gate and they were 30 in number!”

“But, didn’t we cut down the time?”

A lazy voice came from the other side.

Gwan-chang, turned his head to the one who spoke just then.

The young man whose intentions could never be known was seated there.

Gwan-chang didn’t mind the rude words of the man.

Well, he wasn’t in the position to talk about it.

It was because the mad wizard Earner was known for being notorious and cruel.

If the man was pissed off, it would just cause the failure of the expedition, but he would kill everyone on the field.

“Uhm, as Earner said, we did cut down the time. When will the operation be pushed ahead?”

“I can’t do it right away, but wouldn’t it be better to avoid doing it when we are in everyone’s sight?”

“Well, the sun will set very soon.”

Gwan-chang smiled as he watched the sun set at a fast pace.

Yu-dong castle was known to be impregnable but would be defeated once the night came.

Like the castles and forts which have collapsed before it.