Emperor of Steel

The Central army knights who were in close vicinity to the capital flocked to the headquarters in Brandon.

“All of a sudden an emergency had been called, sire? What is happening in our kingdom?”

Commander Philips of the 1st squad, who had reached the meeting first asked Marquis Rogers.

The Chief Commander of the Royal Army, Rogers, opened his mouth with an anxious expression.

“An hour back, we had reports that the gateway city—Anbury was being attacked by an unknown monster.”

“What was that?!”

Philip was startled.

He wasn’t able to understand how such a thing happened.

“Any information about the enemy involved?”

Anbury was close to Brandon city, if the enemy invaded that place, the report had to be brought to the 1st squad as the invaders would have to pass the regions they were in charge of.

Marquis nodded understanding Philip’s emotions.

“Yes, we have it. But the question isn’t on how the monster appeared in Anbury. His Majesty and Hwang Bo-sung are the only ones who went to stop him.”

“Ehh, if His Majesty went…”

Philip hit his face with his hands.

The identity of the monster attacking Anbury wasn’t known.

However, Luke was able to defeat High ranking demons and was a Sword Master who beat 5 commanders of the Symphonia Kingdom at once, Luke might be able to defeat it.

“He went to sort it out, then why were we knights called out under the term of emergency?”

“It isn’t that simple problem to solve.”

When Philip was being too optimistic, Erwin, who was beside Rogers, spoke.

“The monster attacking Anbury is Lich Arsene.”

“Lich Arsene? N-no…!”

“Hugh, that is right. The archmage who threw himself into darkness, the ancestor of the Veritas Magic tower. The opponent who almost killed His Majesty during his stay in the Southern Continent.”

“I-it can’t be?!”

Philip was startled.

Philip too heard about what happened in the Zegal clan, so he knew about Lich Arsene.

He was considered to be the most terrifying opponent, but for Luke to only take Hwang Bo-sung with him!

“I will lead my knights and head there right now!”

Rogers shook his head at Philip’s words.

“You shouldn’t. Your Majesty asked you to lead all the Guards and the Central Knights from the 1st to 4th squad. I think it was to deal with the monster by not taking much damage.”

If the knights, who were known to be the core power of the Symphonia Kingdom would be sent to deal with Arsene in succession, and in case most of them lose their lives, the state of Symphonia would be similar to a lit candle blown by the wind.

The Baroque Empire would surely invade them.

Which was why Rogers thought that taking all the power to deal with the monster at once was great.

“But if we wait till then, Your Majesty would be at risk!”

“I know that. But…”

“Damn it! Chief Commander! This isn’t the time to sit still! If His Majesty dies, all our dreams and our future are done!”

Marquis Rogers realized something when Philip yelled.

It was true.

Before their king, Luke was their Lord.

If he died, the future of the Rakan family which they had all looked forward to would disappear.

Luke had no kids in this world, nor was there any other descendant who could take up the role.

No, there was no person in the Symphonia Kingdom who had the skill set to carry Luke’s will or thoughts, even if they weren’t of the same blood.

‘I was too concerned for the nation.’

Taking on the role of the Chief Commander, Rogers always focused on the kingdom.

Sometimes, it was necessary to have a Lord than a kingdom, and he realized that now was that time.

“Fine, Philip. Firstly, lead the Guards and the 1st squad Rakan Knights!”

“Huh. you will also come with me?”

At Philip’s question, Rogers held his sword.

“Of course. I will be the vanguard.”

A fire in Marquis Rogers’ eyes shone after a long time.

Moreover, the opponent, a monster, had put Luke on the brink of death, the most famous and skilled Rune Knight of the continent.

Yet, Rogers wasn’t hesitant or scared.

Rather, his will to fight against such a strong enemy boiled his blood.

Feeling his body rush to the battlefield, he spoke to Erwin.

“Court wizard, I and Count Philip will lead the Guards and the Rakan knights, please gather the other knights of the Central Army and ask them to follow us.”

“Understood.”

Erwin gave up on trying to stop them.

She knew that her words would have no effect on Philip or Marquis Rogers.

And honestly, she herself wanted them to go and help Luke.

“Please, please save His majesty.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll look after him.”

That being said, Rogers went to his Gigant to prepare his march to Anbury.

However, his preparation was halted by another messenger.

“We have a problem, Chief Commander! The southern port, including the city of Lamer is under attack!”

A few days back,

Chatan was ordered by Nestar to board a ship of Veritas, which would be disguised as the merchant ship, which would pick him up on the Castia Kingdom.

The ship had 5 undead of intermediate level, one Lich and four Death Knights.

“Oh ho, I, a 7th circle warlock is scared of this amount of magi!”

They surely were intermediate class

Lich and the Death Knight were giving out enormous magic which overwhelmed the 7th circle warlock.

Even then, their eyes were closed and they were giving out such energy, he was scared to imagine how strong they would be if they opened their eyes.

Nestar did tell him that the Lich was an 8th circle warlock, and the Death Knights were close to Sword Sage.

Even if they were half close to the mentioned levels, they were shocked to see.

“Creating such monsters… surely our ancestor is great!”

He was busy working as a spy in the Holy Empire, so he didn’t have the chance to see the creation process of the undead.

Yet, he heard the rough story from the islands.

And such good results were in front of him!

The problem didn’t end there.

There was another 90 intermediate undead under development.

There were more undead which were lower than the intermediate level, and even more powerful undead than the intermediate level.

Even then, he was told that Arsene had been trying to develop the lower level undead for better performance.

“Kukkk. One day, when all the production is over, the entire Middle Earth will bow to our Veritas Magic Tower!”

Chatan’s laughter could be heard from the cabin.

With the ship, Chatan arrived at a port city in the southern part of the Symphonia Kingdom.

The moment he got close to the port, he activated the undead.

He memorized the undead activation spell which Nestar had given and spoke it.

Kukkkkk!

Kikkikii!

Lich and the Death Knight began to get up by releasing magi all around.

Chatan’s expression turned blue and his balance missed the instant they released their power.

‘Thi-this is more than what I imagined!’

Will those monsters even obey his words?

The fear of getting killed by them was tugging him, yet Chatan decided to move ahead.

He had to accomplish the task handed to him—that would indeed conceive a better future for the Veritas Magic tower.

With that in mind, he gave orders to the undead by connecting his Magi to them.

“Go-go to the land and destroy every human you see!”

The undead didn’t seem to move even after his words.

‘Did, did I fail?’

The moment Chatan felt nervous seeing the undead stand still.

They moved to the cities, even the Lamer city of Symphonia Kingdom.

Among the 5, the one which appeared in Lamer city was the lich.

The soldiers who were standing on the border gates were puzzled looking at something flying across the sea towards them.

“Huh? what is that?”

Normally, there would be seagulls and migratory birds passing by, but the ones they were currently seeing were larger in size.

When they looked into the telescope, they noticed a robe and staff.

“Who is the wizard using fly magic without getting permission?”

“That is weird. Report this to the…”

This was the last word anyone on the border spoke.

Kwang-!

The border got smashed by a wide-range attack of the Lich.

“WH-what?!”

“Enemy! The enemy has invaded us!”

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As the bell sounded urgently around Lamer city, the Lich began its ruthless attacks.

At the same time, Death Knights were slaughtering the other port cities, and the 5th squad of Symphonia Kingdom turned upside down.

The unexpected assault captured the legs of the army who wanted to go and help Luke.