Emperor of Steel

Before the start of the fifth day.

The troops of the Milton Kingdom, which had been pushing with force, slowed down unexpectedly.

Something seemed to have happened, but Luke thought that it was for the best.

It was because the friendly sacrifice seemed too big to go and initiate a fight.

So he built a defensive team in the town of Batern, which was situated on the highway leading to the Rakan permanent manor.

After evacuating the residents to a safe place, they dug holes and put up barriers at a low-level line to a wall.

Thanks to the mobilization of Gigants, he managed to save time, and he was able to complete the task before the enemy arrived.

“Are they crouching in that small town?”

Soon after arriving at the outskirts of the Batern town, Mayers laughed at the Rakan troops whom he saw.

“Your Majesty, it seems like their army is using this as their battleground.”

At the words of Reynold, Mayers smiled.

“Those stupid men. Do they think that they can stop our troops with such silly obstacles…”

There were two reasons why Milton Kingdom’s advancement had slowed them.

One was to find out the key figure of the Rakan knights, whom they would have to fight, and the other was to make time for the Aegis to infiltrate and conduct their operation.

As a result of the investigation being done, Mayers wanted to fight a little to confirm.

The first artillery units fired at his command.

“Start shelling!”

Bang! Bang!

The shells were fired for the purpose of suppressing the enemy’s army, and it fell right into the town.

And the Gigant troops, which were placed in the defensive line, lifted up their shields to block the shells, and the artillery units of Rakan fired back as well.

“Shoot Mayer’s men, too! They need to taste what this feels like!”

Bang! Bang!

Unexpected blast and flames began to come over the Milton Kingdom’s army camp.

The bombardment from Rakan’s side was intense. The Gigants of Mayers were falling back even after trying to use their shields.

Mayers was shocked at how strong the enemy’s shelling was when compared to his.

“W-why is this happening?”

“There was some information about the enemy mobilizing fort materials. Maybe that is the case?”

The one in charge of the information responded to Mayers.

The Fort guns meant large-caliber cannons for Gigants.

If they could be aimed at the right spot, it could cause serious damage compared to normal cannons. It could even take down Gigants.

However, they held a huge drawback. It was that they weren’t easy to move because of their weight.

That was why they were fixed to manors, castles, or forts. That was the reason why they were called Fort Guns.

“If such a thing was there, it should have been reported to me immediately!”

“P-please kill me, Your Majesty!”

Mayers reprimanded the noble who was on his knees, but it wasn’t something that required one’s life. Mayers clicked his tongue.

“Aee, you incompetent ones. By the way, Commander Reynard. Do you know that the Fort Guns aren’t easy to transport?”

The use of Fort Guns in the field was something that could have been considered in any war, but it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

“I think that they might have used the trailers to move the Gigants.”

If it was a trailer, then it could surely carry a Fort Gun.

However, in reality, the guess of Reynold was wrong.

Luke, who fought with the Volga Republic in the past at the Torlot Fort, emphasized on the importance of movable artillery.

Therefore, wheels and carriages for the artillery were improved in the same form as their use, and as a result, fort guns were easily transported.

“But even then, we struggled to move them.”

Luke stared at the artillery being reloaded with shells.

Although he suspected the reason for the Milton Kingdom to have slowed down, the fort guns were a solid plus to them.

Since the Grenada navy was destroying their south, they had to use the nearby fort guns to replace the lack of Gigant power.

It was difficult to move, but the Fort Guns played a good role.

“The enemy Gigant troops are about to assault.”

Just as Philip announced the news, the shell fired by Milton fell ahead of the town.

From the shell, white smoke began to come out.

It was intended to conceal the assault of the Gigants by using the smoke bombs.

And they would avoid the enemy’s shelling too.

“Oh, that is a stupid thing. Shoot out smoke bombs and send out our allied Gigant units!”

“Yes, Lord!”

With the support from the artillery, the Rakan estate’s Gigant troops participated.

Shortly after, the Gigants met at a middle point.

Kwang! Kang!

“Don’t step back!”

“Remove all the enemy scraps from here!”

The harsh screams and loud hissing flowed out of the field.

It was the Rakan troops who had the upper hand in the situation even though it wasn’t easy to see through the thick smokescreen.

It was because the movements of the Gigants were very smooth after the Katarina Magic Tower had equipped them with a tuning helm, and they overwhelmed the Milton Kingdom’s Gigants with huge force.

“Kuek, such quick reactions…! A Sword Master?”

“Hahaha! I am glad you got it wrong!”

Despite the disadvantage of the numbers, the reason Rakan estate held a higher position wasn’t just because of the tuning helm.

In the early moments, the mistakes made by the Milton Kingdom played a huge role.

The smoke bombs shot to avoid the shelling from Milton to obscure the view of Rakan made it impossible to preserve their numerical advantage.

Eventually, Milton Kingdom’s Gigants retreated and suffered considerable losses.

Naturally, Mayers was upset.

“What, 26 were damaged and 11 were completely destroyed?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I think that it was a mistake to fight in the smokescreen.”

“This…! Replace the artillery commander right away! They had to support the Gigant units!”

Reynold and the other unit commanders were feeling bad. It was Mayers and not someone else who had asked for the smoke bombs to be used.

Upon hearing that the enemy brought in Fort Guns, Mayers ordered the smoke bombs to be fired since he was scared about the damage his Gigants would take.

However, he forgot it and blamed it all on the artillery commander.

“Your Majesty, please calm down. This is just the start. Once we enter into a full-fledged war, victory will be on our side.”

In the previous battle, Sword Master class riders such as Reynold or Reynard and Hero class Gigants didn’t appear.

It was because the men of Milton said that he wanted to judge the skills of Luke and the unreasonable skills of his retainers and decided to use their Sword Master as hidden cards when the battle turned serious.

“And the enemy? Among the riders who appeared, there was something about a lot of them being Sword Masters?”

“They must have misunderstood. If a Sword Master fought, we would have noticed a peculiar energy flow from them.”

As Reynold said that, Mayers nodded his head.

‘Right, a Sword Master isn’t a stone rolling in waters…’

“But, Your Majesty, what happened to the assassination of the enemy commander. The thing I suggested the other day?”

At the question of Reynold, Mayers frowned.

“I got a report that Aegis is going into operation. We need to wait until they contact us again.”

No intention of listening to Reynold’s nagging, Mayers hoped that the assassination of one commander would be successful for Aegis.