Emperor of Steel

“They aren’t easy men! Hurry up, and get the Gigants out!”

When the situation on the front gate was communicated, the Knights of Guards hurried to respond to the situation.

The Baroque Imperial Palace Knights of Guards were divided into three organizations: Gold Guards, Silver Guards, and the Iron Guard.

The most powerful of them were the Silver and Iron Guards, and they were currently guarding the ruins with the Emperor’s escorts.

The Iron Guards were in charge of defending and patrolling the main gate, while the Silver Guard was in charge of defending the buildings in the Imperial Palace and to escort the high-ranking officials and nobles, including the Imperial family.

With the urgent report that the main gate of the Imperial Palace had been opened, the Silver Guards deployed in each building were being mobilized to help.

“Damn it, what the hell?!”

“Who is that? Our nation is on the way to hell already! And now even the Imperial Palace... Kuak!”

A Silver Guard Knight, who was complaining to his colleague, suddenly screamed.

Seeing that an arrow made of steel was coming for him.

“Over there, there are enemies over there!”

The Silver Guard Knights, who found the direction of the arrow coming in, looked over.

A group of men, who were being led by a red-headed woman, was seen on a building.

Swoosh! Ping!

“Kuak!”

“Don’t stand that far, block or cover yourselves with shields!”

The arrows which came for them had so much power, and the arrows always went for the gaps in the helmet or the armors.

In particular, the arrows released by the red-haired woman were the most frightening.

Three people got killed by just one arrow from her.

Because of that, the Silver Guard knights were busy trying to hide near stone statues, walls, or pillars.

“Damn it! It is a Bow Master!”

Those who reached a higher level of archery were called Bow Masters.

There were a few humans who have managed to achieve that level, which was known to be difficult for elves.

“Call for the archers right away!”

“No, War mages would be better.”

The Silver Guard knights made a fuss, but before the War Mages or Archer could arrive, the intruders had sneaked off.

The intruders seemed very accustomed to the enemy’s moves.

“There is no need to go head-on. Don’t forget that our role is to simply draw the attention of the enemies to disperse their power.”

Scarlet, who was trying to calm her subordinates, pulled the string of her bow and released an arrow.

Swoosh!

The arrow which she released aimed at the sky.

The War Mage, who heard the news of the Imperial Palace’s intruders flew to the sky to check the situation and was shocked when an arrow came for him.

“Wh-what?!”

The War Mage hastily avoided getting struck by Scarlet’s arrow.

“Ugh!”

‘Tch, did I miss?’

When Scarlet, who was pissed, pulled the arrow for the War Mage’s head, someone had already taken him down.

When she turned her head, she noticed someone waving their hands at her. Just like Scarlet, they were princess Ja-hye and her escorts who were in charge of dispersing the enemy.

She nodded her head towards them as a way of thanking them.

‘It is hard to constantly hit and move like this... Did His Majesty reach the ruins?’

The party had divided into three groups to disperse the enemies in all directions.

Not just Scarlet’s troops, but Ja-hye and her Yemaek escorts, and also Shirley and the other troops went in with their Gigants, which Luke brought in his sub space to cause disruption.

She was told that using any kind of space magic would be tough as the magic circles in Nemesis were disturbing the space magic flow, but it looked like Luke had come up with something.

‘But, according to what Henry said, the troops deployed in the ruins of the Imperial Palace are the strongest. I don’t know if Hwang Bo-sung will be okay there.’

Scarlet was in love with Hwang Bo-sung.

Honestly, she was hostile with the man at the first meeting.

She had been deprived of her father’s estates, the Albertville estates, and Hwang Bo-sung’s lord, Luke was appointed as the new Lord of those estates.

However, it turned out that Luke was close with Erenes, her teacher.

After joining Luke’s group, she and Hwang Bo-sung had turned into good friends. She, being in Albertville, had faced similar situations that Hwang Bo-sung had from the Southern Continent.

Feeling affectionate, compassion for him grew in Scarlet’s heart.

Hwang Bo-sung too favored her, and during the time when he went to the Southern Continent, he brought back a specially made horn and gave it to her as a gift.

When handing that horn, she said.

“I met with my father when I went home. And I talked about you, which he seemed to be glad about it. The day when Your Majesty’s goals aren’t far away. When that time comes, there will be less work for people like us, so how about opening up a military training center with me?”

He was a man of a few words, yet it was his form of proposal.

Scarlet gladly accepted the proposal.

‘At this point, His Majesty needs to remove Rudolf. And then when his goal is done...’

“Captain, ahead!”

At the words of her subordinate, Scarlet looked ahead.

A huge Gigant appeared.

It was a Knight class Gigant made by the Baroque Imperial magic tower, and the breastplate along with the shield was marked with a symbol that indicated the Silver Guards.

“Get into the building to avoid it!”

“Yes!”

Even if they weren’t sure how great the rider was, a Gigant wasn’t an opponent which can be dealt with a bow.

So Scarlet and her party escaped to the building next to them. As there seemed to be a lot of Imperial palace staff working in the building, they assumed that the Gigants wouldn’t attack their own men.

However, the Gigant went ahead and attacked with his huge sword.

Kwang! Bang!

‘Uh! What the?! I did a mistake getting in here!’

Scarlet blamed herself for making the wrong choice.

However, the warning of the Gigant which had to come for her and her men fell to the wrong place.

A familiar Gigant appeared from the back and cut off the Silver Guard Gigant’s arm with a giant halberd.

“That is Shirley’s Orion!”

“Thanks to her we are alive!”

Shirley took down the Silver Guard Gigant with her giant Halberd and went away after sending a hand signal to Scarlet, and her men asking them to be careful.

She sensed an enemy Gigant approaching her from behind.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

She clapped her hands at the 10 Gigants of the enemy, which were approaching her.

“Hye! Come over here! Shirley de Kyle, the traitor of the Baroque Empire is here! Come on!”

Shirley’s cry echoed through the entire ground, and the ones even more shocked were the Iron Guards who were once her subordinates.

“Shirley de Kyle?”

“That f*cking hybrid traitor b*tch!”

The Iron Guards suffered tremendously because of Shirley’s escape.

Those who were close to her like Ferrero got expelled, and those who weren’t very close to her had been interrogated until proven innocent.

So they couldn’t help but lose their cool.

“Die, you hybrid b*tch!”

Three of the Iron Guard Gigants rushed to her at the same time.

However, the moment Shirley’s halberd drew an aura, the breastplates of all three split up and the Gigants rolled to the floor.

No matter how good the Iron Guard knights were, even if they were Sword Expert—Shirley, who was a Spear Master was unbeatable.

“Tch Tch, your spirits are good, but the skills are bad. If I knew that you were all going to be like this, I would have picked Rudolf itself.”

“Ugh! B*tch...”

The three Gigant which had stumbled back because of her attack, rushed again to attack her.

Fights like that were happening all over the Imperial Palace.

Because of the performance of the Symphonia troops, which were very capable, the Knights of Guards didn’t even care about the priority and went ahead with battles.

Thanks to that, the main troops of the infiltration led by Luke had reached the close vicinity of the ruins without much battle.

“There it is.”

“Yes, a lot of time has passed.”

As Arch Duke Gregory looked up, he saw the huge dome ahead and spoke, Luke too frowned.

Originally, they planned to visit the ruins under the guidance of Shirley, who knew the structure of the Imperial Palace.

However, there didn’t seem to be any need for her as the ruins were already releasing Aether.

“It looks like some pretty strong men are deployed there!”

“Even then, we need to go through there. When the ruins get fully operational, things will get irreversible.”

“I don’t know what, but we shouldn’t Rudolf do what he wants.”

Gregory agreed to Luke’s words and turned to Karen.

“Princess, please return my Gigant.”

“Fine.”

Karen immediately summoned the Veda.

Unlike the space magic, which was strongly constrained within the capital, there were no restrictions for zen users.

First, Luke boarded his Avenger, and Hwang Bo-sung summoned her Puppet and rushed towards the dome with Arch Duke Gregory.

“Follow Your Majesty!”

“Saint Guards! Don’t fall behind the Symphonia Knights!”

DuDuDuDuDu!

As the troops rushed into the place, the Gold Guards and the SS Knights who had already found the enemy began to fight with the Gigants.

They knew that intruders had entered the Imperial Palace.

Nevertheless, unlike the Silver Guards, the reason why they weren’t dispatched to stop the invaders was due to the strict command of the Emperor to protect the ruins.

“Kill the intruders!”

“Long Live His Majesty! Glory for the Baroque Empire!”

Against the Avenger and the Gigants of Symphonia, the Gold Guards and the SS Knights boldly confronted them.

However, they yelled and screamed.

“Ahhh!”

“No, don’t step back!”

With Luke’s Gigant Avenger, the continent’s strongest Rune Knight was never meant to lose.

And there was Veda with Arch Duke Gregory, the guardian of the Holy Empire, and the Puppet of Hwang Bo-sung.

In the blink of an eye, they wielded the giant sword, struck their fists and dozens of Baroque Gigants fell.

Erwin and Karen who were assisting Luke in the lead were supporting the members with magic.

Karen carefully monitored the state of ruins while supporting the men.

‘It was activated, but it isn’t too late!’

There was still some time left before it got fully activated.

It could still be stopped.

Another ‘hell’ can be prevented.

With slight hope in her eyes, Karen accelerated the Aether globe in her heart towards the mana circle to use more magic.