Emperor of Steel

Departing with the 3rd squad of Saint Guards, which consisted of around 1,000 men, Luke and Arch Duke Gregory separated near Bremen.

Luke entered the downtown areas to attempt the rescue of Archbishop Antero, while Gregory decided to stay outside the city and guard Reina.

“Don’t ever get into anything which might seem dangerous, do you get it?”

“I do. You should be careful too.”

Luke, managed to talk and kiss Reina secretly, entered downtown of Bremen along with Hwang Bo-sung and his other Guards.

After flying himself and his men with the use of Fly magic, Luke began to scrutinize the city.

“Everything is still. It almost feels like the time has stopped for this place.”

“I agree with Master’s words. It doesn’t seem like a city of our world.”

Just as they were talking, the Bremen city which was being looked at from the sky was desolate.

Let alone the humans, not a single dog could be seen walking on the roads, even the zombies which had to be walking around the city were barely visible.

“Hmm, it’s weird.”

“It gives out the feeling of something sinister lurking in the corners. This is very different from what Arch Duke Gregory gave us.”

At Hwang Bo-sung’s words, Luke couldn’t help but nod.

It seemed very much like the calm before the storm.

“What are we supposed to do, Master? Should we go back?”

“I really agree with that… but, we have no other choice but to save Archbishop Antero, who was in the sanctuary.”

Archbishop Antero, he had claimed that he knew a vital clue about the zombie disease.

And if what he said was indeed the truth, then they had to risk themselves and save him.

Luke, who was still feeling hopeful about the clue, moved to the place where the sanctuary of the God was.

Unlike the other places, the manor had numerous zombies gathered in front.

They could be wiped out with magic, but Luke couldn’t help but feel something ominous and decided to save his power as much as he could.

‘Well, with that level of zombies, I am sure my Guards will be able to take care.’

Luke, opened the subspace bracelet and summoned the Gigants of the Guard Knights.

Thud! Thud!

Dozen Gigants settled in front of the square of the manor, all the Guard Knights, who were floating in the sky headed to their Gigants with the help from Luke.

Hwang Bo-sung too picked his Gigant.

His Puppet was severely damaged in the battle against Hiros, and it was still under the process of repair.

As he always repaired his Gigant by himself, it was taking quite some time, during the meantime, Hwang Bo-sung began to learn how the Gigant works.

Controlling Puppet in every situation wasn’t possible, and as he was the Commander of the Proximal Guard Knights, he should be familiar with the weapons and Gigants his men were handling.

“It is the first time for Commander Hwang Bo-sung to control a Gigant outside practice, right?”

“I practiced to the level where I wouldn’t make basic mistakes. I promise to not make my Master feel embarrassed by me.”

“Then show me.”

Hwang Bo-sung nodded his head at Luke’s words and headed to the zombies along with his men.

Kuuuu!

Kiiiii!

Instead of them approaching the zombies, the zombies were running towards them.

It wasn’t like the Gigant’s were moving slowly, but the zombies which ran for the Gigants were fast enough to make it look like they were going to swallow the Gigants.

“They are all people, let them be treated well.”

Hwang Bo-sung, who prayed briefly for the zombies, began to unleash his Trinity Martial arts.

Bang!

The power of the Trinity Punch was unfamiliar when being used in a Gigant.

However, not just the Gigants, but it was strong enough to blow away all the zombies which were running for them.

In addition to Hwang Bo-sung, the other knights too managed to annihilate the zombies who were rushing at them with just their swords.

Soon, the zombies that were all around the manor were completely cleared.

Luke, with a smile on his face, spoke to Hwang Bo-sung and his other Guard Knights.

“I will be the one to enter the sanctuary, and you all Guards will have to be here and guard the place.”

“Master, it could be dangerous. I will accompany you.”

When Hwang Bo-sung couldn’t hide his concern, Luke shook his hands.

“Don’t worry about me. I know enough on how to deal with the undead.”

“Even then…”

“Honestly, I am more concerned about Reina who is outside the city. As soon as possible, I will come outside the sanctuary, so the Commander and the Guards too will have to be ready to secure our retreat.”

“Understood. Please be careful.”

Luke, who left behind Hwang Bo-sung and his Guards, went into the sanctuary.

He had already been briefed about the structure of the Sanctuary in Bremen from Arch Duke Gregory, so he went directly to the underground where the secret room was located.

“Archbishop Antero! Where are you?!”

After entering the labyrinth-like warehouse in the second level of the underground, he walked further in and looked at the walls.

According to what Gregory had told, he was following the blue wooden cross tiles which were on the wall to find the secret room.

Finally, at the end of the path, Luke managed to reach the dead end and shouted looking at the wall.

“I have come to pick you up on behalf of the Pope. So open the door and come out!”

Despite shouting loud, there was no response from the other side.

It wasn’t just that, he couldn’t even feel any energy on the other side.

‘Is he and everyone else inside the room dead? Or did they run away to another place?’

When Luke decided to use force and open the dead-end wall to check, footsteps could be heard from the other side of the wall.

Tap tap tap tap!

After a while, the stone door, which was blocking the entrance to the secret room moved with a low voice, opening slightly.

Inside, people with warming clothes looked out and asked slowly.

“And you must be?”

“Didn’t you hear anything I said? I am Luke de Rakan, the King of Symphonia, who came to save you.”

At Luke’s words, the old priest who began to tear up asked.

“Oh! Oh my! Is it Your Majesty Luke?”

“Yes. And you are? Are you Archbishop Antero?”

At the question from Luke, the old man opened the stone door completely.

He moved out of the room and replied.

“I am Archbishop Antero, the High priest of Bremen. But where is the Holiness? Is she outside the sanctuary?”

“No, her Holiness is outside of Bremen. The city was too dangerous to enter, so I came here to save you and your men.”

“Oh my! Oh dear! I had asked her Holiness to directly come here!”

Antero sighed with a sad expression.

Luke, who saw that couldn’t help but ask him.

“What was it that you needed the Pope to come here? The clue about zombie disease?”

“It is something very simple, yet difficult. The cause of the disease is the fake one who is pretending to be the disciple of God. The disaster will stop once the fake one is removed.”

“Getting rid of the fake ones… that is surely the right option.”

Since Luke came to Jackson, he had a clear grasp of the situation, someone had deliberately spread the disease.

And it seemed like they had a strong connection with Constantine, who was pretending to be the true disciple of God.

So, the words of Archbishop Antero convinced Luke.

However, Luke didn’t fully comprehend the meaning.

The fake who Luke thought wasn’t the fake who Antero thought.

“The Pope said. That wench who was staying at Bless is a witch who disguised herself and deceived people. Killing that witch will make this entire disaster go away.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Did you not understand? It wasn’t supposed to be His Majesty who came here. It should have been that witch who is pretending to be as the Holiness. They contacted them to specifically bring in the witch.”

Antero’s glistening eyes showed that he turned into someone else.

‘This can’t be…!’

Luke, who looked at Antero, decided to check his condition with magic.

He thought that his mind too was corrupted when they were being chased by the zombies, however, when he looked closely, the consciousness of his mind had been twisted with magic.

“This, this a trap!”

“There was an old saying, better take the substitute when the real one is absent. Killing the descendant of the foolish warrior who has been deceived by the witch, I will be doing a great help to you.”

Antero’s words were turning scary, and dozens of wizards appeared along the wall of the underground room.

Luke, who saw the magic circle change around him couldn’t help but turn stiff.

‘This, this is the explosion magic which I made over 500 years back!’

Why were such magic circles built in a sanctuary?

Even before he could find the answer, a huge explosion occurred in a line with the magic circles.

Booom-!

The powerful explosion which occurred in the 2nd level of the underground had blown away the sanctuary of Bremen city.