Emperor of Steel

At the entrance of the Imperial palace dungeon, was the headquarters of the Knights of Guard who were placed close to the Imperial palace for security purposes.

Normally, it would have been difficult to enter such a place because of its strict guarding.

However, all thanks to the explosions which just happened, around half the knights were dispatched, and the other half were completely confused.

“That Henry is doing a lot better than I thought.”

Not only did Henry manage to draw in the enemy’s attention, but also well prepared to use the right means to distract them.

The uniforms of the Knights of Guards, the forged IDs, and the dungeon map which Luke’s party were currently wearing were all the items prepared by Henry, and the ID’s were so perfect as Philip had been a Knights of Guard in the past, so he helped him.

“After this work, he needs to be rewarded.”

At Philip’s words, Luke nodded to show that he considered doing it.

‘A prize… should I remove them from being demon slaves?’

Henry was currently Sebastian’s first slave.

Luke didn’t know what Sebastian had done to make him his slave, but liberating Henry should be simple.

Because all Luke would have to do was say one word to Sebastian.

Once Luke asks him to liberate, Sebastian who was Luke’s slave would have to free Henry at all costs.

‘No, there is no need to hurry. There aren’t many slaves who can be used like this.’

Some other reward would be enough for Henry.

Thinking so, Luke walked forward to find a huge gate.

The iron gate was one of the three gates which shut the dungeon, and it wasn’t just engraved with complex magic circles, but also the best of the Knights.

“Stop. Who are you?”

As a knight, who appeared to be in front stopped Luke.

Luke spoke with a normal tone.

“I came to pick up the sinner under the command of His Majesty.”

“His Majesty’s command?”

“Yes. Please open the gate.”

Even after saying that it was the Emperor’s orders, the knight didn’t seem to be convinced. Rather, with suspicion, he asked Luke.

“According to our commander’s words, we were asked not to release the sinner until a specific order has been given to us from him. Is there any evidence of what you are saying?”

“None. There is no time to draft the order as the situation is urgent.”

“What about the urgent situation? The outside? Is it related to the earthquake?”

The guards of the dungeon gate were kept at their positions all day, so they had no idea what was happening outside.

Which made Luke answer.

“The Libiya Kingdom’s special forces have attacked the capital. The central barracks were assaulted, and the armory exploded. It is a complete mess in there.”

“Hmm…”

“Because of all that things about the enemy on the move, His Majesty has decided to grant Count Ferrero a chance to wash away his sins. So, please open the door.”

Luke’s words seemed reasonable.

It was a chance for a Sword master to shine his abilities because of the war outside.

Nevertheless, the gates didn’t move.

Philip decided to take the lead.

“What are you delaying this for?! If things go like this, you will all be held accountable!”

The knight stared at Philip.

It was almost as if he was trying to look through Philip’s eyes.

Which made Philip wonder if the knight recognized him.

‘This wouldn’t be too strange if he recognizes me as I was in the Knights of Guards. But with what I am, my appearance changed and so did my voice because of His Majesty’s magic so this can’t.’

However, there was one thing that couldn’t be changed even after changing the appearance.

It was the mana waves.

Each knight had a unique mana and aura, so the knight with excellent skills was quick to find out who the opponent was even before seeing the face.

Nor surprisingly, the knight asked Philip with a loud voice.

“You are Philip! The one who ran away 7 years back, handing in your resignation! Why is such a man disguised himself like this and standing here?”

‘Dammit, he noticed?’

When things went wrong, Philip immediately went for his sword and struck the iron gate.

It was a blow with Impact aura, but the iron gates didn’t seem to move.

The knight managed to stop the attack, as he was a Sword Master like Philip.

‘Dammit, why is a Sword Master being kept as a gatekeeper?’

Philip couldn’t understand. At what the knight was, he could be placed a commander for the knights of guards.

“Sound the alarms! We have intruders…”

The knights’ words stopped midway.

It was because of the silent magic used by Luke.

The moment the magic got triggered, the members of group 1 rushed to the guards.

When a group of men with swords met, it was sure for noise to ring everywhere, and it indicated that there was a need for silence to avoid suspicion.

It was a preparation for a situation if Ferrero escaped, the knights used as guards were all Knights of Guards, and the knight who spoke to Philip was the head of the 3rd squad.

So, the fight wasn’t going to be an easy one, however, with Luke’s support, the situation could be changed.

‘Petro Light!’

“Huk!”

Luke’s eyes shone with a purple hue, and the abilities of the demon got activated.

Petro Light, which was being used in less amount not to give out suspicion, couldn’t turn the bodies of the knights into stone, however, it was sufficient enough to temporarily harden their bodies.

And once they faltered, the swords of Philip and the group 1 cut their necks and dug into their hearts without hesitation.

‘All done?’

Once Philip handled the guards of the Iron Gate, he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a sigh of relief.

All of a sudden, the magic circles engraved on the iron gate began to act weirdly.

King! King!

Chrr!

Various mechanical devices rose from the ground and formed in front of the iron gate, and the strength of the gate seemed to have doubled.

And the light changed from green to red.

Seeing that, Philip and the others were all flustered.

‘This can’t be, it looks like some kind of tattoo engraved on the body of the dead, an alarm linked to the gate.’

Normally, it would have turned noisy, but with the silent magic used by Luke, the alarm wasn’t audible.

However, if anyone noticed the change of the light, there would be knights coming for the dungeon, and there already seemed to be a large number of troops approaching them.

‘Majesty!’

‘Don’t worry.’

Luke shook his hands to push away the anxiousness of his men.

The iron gates were strengthened and the defense magic was complicated, but it wasn’t at a level where Luke wouldn’t solve it.

Luke simply neutralized the magic circles with his anti-magic and opened the iron gate.

After a while, the iron gates which were opened, closed tightly once the Baroque knights of guards had appeared.

“Dammit, there is an intruder! Open the gate right now!”

The War Mage, who had been dispatched from the Imperial Magic tower, tried to open the iron gate at the knight’s orders.

For a moment he chanted some spells, however, he couldn’t help but be confused.

“That… it won’t open if the man opened it is inside.”

The reason why the iron gate didn’t open was because Luke, who had gone inside, changed the magic circles on the iron gate.

“One has to be at least 8 circles to take that down. It is too much for me, and I might need to bring Meister here.”

“Tch! Can’t wait till then. Guard the gates. And raise the knights to the Imperial Palace!”

The intruders were surely those who had come to rescue Count Ferrero, who was placed in the dungeon.

After all, those who went in would have to come out.

‘I’m going to report this to His Majesty right away.’

Rudolf was in charge of handling Count Ferrero.

Moreover, if the intruders had killed off the guards and changed the magic circles on the iron gate, they wouldn’t be any normal men.

Maybe the Emperor or his special knights would have to come.

“Men broke into the dungeon?”

Though woken up at the report of the explosion from a knight, Rudolf frowned.

“Is this the Libiya Kingdom’s men?”

“It does seem very likely.”

Voltas agreed to it from the side.

Originally, Ferrero was a neutral noble.

He had a very close relationship with Felipe, who rebelled after meeting with Reichard.

“Considering Ferrero’s personality, talking wouldn’t convince him but if they rescued him then Ferrero could be brought to his side.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. They haven’t escaped from the dungeon yet. They all like sitting rats, we can take them out at once.”

“No, we don’t need to move. We will wait for them.”

Rudolf reached out to a crystal ornament that was on the side of his chair.

Woong!

When the Emperor touched the dragon-shaped ornament, the magic circles flashed around the office floor, and a three-sided dimensional view of the Imperial Palace and the dungeon began to show.

“This, this is?!”

Count Voltas was surprised at it.

As a close aide, he had been serving Rudolf for a long time, however, he never knew such a thing was in the Emperor’s office.

“Kukk. It is one of the secrets the world isn’t aware of. The rats don’t even know where they are.”

Rudolf’s mouth turned to a smile looking at the three-sided dimensional view of his palace.