Emperor of Steel

When Luke and Nestar met, the shells, hitting the pier of the island, stopped.

“What just happened? Didn’t it just kept pouring down like rain a while ago?”

“It might be because the barrels have overheated. The cannons can’t keep on firing if it isn’t completely cooled down.”

It was only then that the warlocks and the merchants sighed out of relief and turned their heads.

They thought that something was approaching them from the surface and then came close to the pier.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Wh-what is that? Those things are…?”

“Damn it, Gigants! The enemy had landed!”

A Gigant, which resembled a crab, was walking ahead. However, it was made of iron.

Those Gigants were Triton, and they came from Auster.

They were brought there from the Southern Continent. They were supposed to use them for any coastal battles, but they ended turning up useful for the current expedition.

“Stop them! Stop them at all costs!”

Slash!

“Kuak!”

The warlock, who was about to use evil and firebolt magic, ended up getting killed by the red Triton, which was in the lead.

Triton, the red one, who overpowered the warlock with a single slash, shouted, “This is for the entire troop! Before our second wave starts, hurry up and take over the pier and secure the bridge! Not even one of you should be hurt!”

“Yes!”

All the Triton’s yelled at the same time as the red Triton ordered them.

They quickly rushed toward all the surviving warlocks and mercenaries.

Swwong! Bang!

“Ugh!”

When a large spear was thrown, the warehouses got smashed and dozens of merchants hiding inside it got crushed and killed.

“Ehk! Dark Ball!”

“Fire Explosion!”

“Magic Spear!”

A variety of counterattacks came from the wrecked pier.

They were warlocks that survived the shelling.

Triton, who got hit by the attacks, staggered back a little, but thanks to the defense magic circle engraved on its shield and armor, they managed to withstand the 4th circle attack.

“Two warlocks in the west side building! Take care of them!”

“Yes! Captain!”

Tritons moved quickly and threw their spears and crossbows toward the warlocks.

The attack of the mercenaries was ignored.

From the standpoint of the riders, the warlocks, who could damage the Gigants, were the most troublesome compared to mercenaries.

Of course, there were exceptions even for the mercenaries.

“Captain, there is a shooting at 11 o’clock from 100 meters high.”

“Scatter! And use the rubble as a shield!”

The surviving mercenaries after the Auster shooting fired the artilleries at Triton to see if they could handle the shelling.

Poop! Pop! Bang!

Triton, who was made with thin armor for Navy warfare, were hit severely when the shell hit them.

However, the Gigants were so light that the movement was excellent.

The riders, who made use of their mobility, weren’t that bad to get hit by such poor shelling.

“Damn, reload quickly… Ahhk!”

“Kuak!”

The mercenaries hanging around the canons were red.

The Tritons began to throw stones and gravel from the floor.

The mercenaries screamed and fell to the ground as they got hit by huge rocks.

“Well done. Make sure to break down those canons, so they can’t be used again.”

“Okay.”

The 3 Tritons, who were instructed, broke into the building and turned the artillery into scrap.

Like that, the Triton troops steadily cleared up the pier with all their hands and feet intact.

Meanwhile, another unit was preparing to unload from Auster. Loaded with infantry and artillery, Gigants approached the pier.

If they landed, they would be able to wipe out the entire Thanatos Island.

“Nice, the landing has turned up successful!”

It was when the captain of Triton was satisfied when suddenly, from the woods behind the pier, people wearing black armor ran out.

They had a very different aura than the mercenaries, and they swung their swords toward Triton without any hesitation.

“Huh, that sword is…”

The Triton rider, who was in the lead, snorted while looking at their enemies.

In order for a knight to deal with a Gigant with his bare body, he had to be a Sword Expert of the intermediate class.

Of course, just being that class didn’t mean that they could take down the Gigant. It just meant that they could take down the armor for the Gigant.

Therefore, it was impossible to win a one-on-one against a Gigant unless they were an Expert.

But, how many mercenaries of the advanced level, who committed sins in the Northern Continent, would even be available to the Veritas Magic Tower?

There could be none.

Thinking so, the Triton rider struck a giant sword right away. He thought that soon their blood would splatter…

Cang!

The giant sword got blocked by a sword with a black seal.

“Wh-what! He stopped it?”

When the rider was flustered, the black-armored man screamed and pushed Triton.

Kiik!

“Th-this is!”

Triton got pushed back.

It wasn’t just some kind of deception that he got pushed back.

Six Tritons near the forest were pushed back by the men in black, or the knee joints of the Gigants were cut down.

“Be careful. They are Death Knights. They aren’t humans!”

The captain, who identified the enemy’s real identity, warned his men.

Every single one of them that heard the message went into the line.

“One, two, three… Thirty-two in total.”

“Captain, normal attacks don’t work on them.”

In a short moment, the rider, who managed to compete with a Death Knight, frowned.

“I know.”

The captain of the Triton unit had fought a Death Knight in the Lamer City during the last Undead attack.

He knew that a Death Knight could smash a Gigant.

A Death Knight was a lot faster and stronger compared to normal humans.

A normal Gigant wouldn’t even stand a chance against them. Dealing with more than 30 Death Knights wouldn’t be possible for a weak Triton.

“Of course, that is if we use normal attack.”

Death Knights were strong but not invincible. They had an obvious weakness.

“You are talking about that?”

“Yes, it is time to use that!”

At the captain’s words, the riders pulled out a large glass bottle from the leather pouch, which was hanging by every Triton’s waist, and threw it at the running Death Knights.

Crack!

Splash!

The glass bottle, which broke, spilled all over the Death Knight.

Kiikki!

Kikikiki!

Death Knights that were covered in the water ran wild.

Black smoke rose on their bodies as if they were set on fire.

“Your Majesty’s Holy Water is working!”

“Even if they are Death Knights, they are the Undead.”

Before attacking the island, Luke discovered the Undead coffins.

There might be strong Undead like those who attacked the southern coast of the Symphonia Kingdom, so everyone prepared countermeasures.

And what they came up was the Holy Water, which was made by infusing water with Divine power.

“Pour Holy Water on your swords! A weapon with Divine power will do a great deal of damage on them!”

At the orders of their captain, Triton riders took out the Holy Water from their pouch and poured it over their swords.

KiKikikii!

The bodies of the Death Knights were covered in Holy Water and melted like a candle.

The Tritons that applied Holy Water on their swords ran ahead and crushed the Death Knights.

The moment they cleared the Death Knights, a new one appeared.

The Lich.

Five low and intermediate Lich were flying in the sky and directed magic attacks toward the Tritons.

The riders weren’t aware, but the low-level Lich could use magic up to 7th circle and the intermediate one could use 8th circle.

Swoosh!

Bang!

Crack!

Black flames and lightning burst everywhere.

With the powerful magic coming at them, the Triton captain yelled to his men, “Damn, don’t face them head-on. Try to avoid it!”

However, despite his warning, about half of his men were hit and their Gigants were destroyed.

In fact, the attack toward him and his fallen allies made the Triton captain stunned.

During that time, another group of Death Knights and warlocks appeared from the woods.

“Kukkku! How dare you people come to this place?!”

“Kill all of those who attacked our Veritas Magic Tower and turn them into Undead!”

The warlocks that appeared were the elders of the tower and their disciples, who run from the pyramid to stop the attack.

In order to prevent the enemy from landing, they considered it urgent to wipe out all of the Triton troops and take control of the pier.

However, the riders of Triton, who took the lead in the pier, didn’t seem like easy opponents to deal with.

It was because Luke made the unit of Triton based on skilled knights, who had strong sword skills.

“Use Flash Bullets!”

The Tritons used Flash Bullets that contained Holy Water in all directions.

Pop! Bang! Pop!

Dazzling flashes burst on earth.

When they saw the bright flash caused by the Holy water, the warlocks closed their eyes.

As they stopped giving orders, the movement of the Undead stopped for a brief moment.

In the meantime, the Triton troops grabbed the fallen Gigants and escaped from that spot.

“Those rats!”

“They think they can live by running away!”

One of the elder warlocks led his two Undead to pursue the Triton troops.

But just then, a fire rang from afar and huge shells fell at him.

“Th-this is!”

The disciple of an elder tried to use shield magic in a hurry.

However, the shell fell a lot faster than his magic.

Auster’s large-caliber shells that could smash any Gigant went for the Undead and warlocks.

The elder screamed at the disciples since they were slow to react.

“What are you doing?! Shells are pouring in! Hurry up and deploy the shield magic!”

The Tritons used Flash Bullet not just to escape, but they used it to tie their opponent’s feet and inform the sailors of the Auster on where to fire.

“Shield magic, hurry…!”

Swoosh!

As the elder shouted, shells rained on them.

As a result, the elders couldn’t pursue the Triton troops and were busy looking for ways to survive the shelling.